


I Would Challenge You To a Battle of Wits, But I See You Are Unarmed

by Mediocre_LazyWriter



Category: Killing Eve (TV 2018)
Genre: Domestic Fluff, F/F, Murder Mystery, Romance, Soft Villanelle - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-27
Updated: 2019-07-19
Packaged: 2019-12-18 16:22:42
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 12
Words: 55,745
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18253490
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mediocre_LazyWriter/pseuds/Mediocre_LazyWriter
Summary: After the bloody event in Paris, Eve was racked with guilt and burdened by a broken heart. For months, nightmares had been her constant reminder that Villanelle died by her own hands but when victims with uncanny similarities to Eve started surfacing, Eve's curiosity perked. As Eve delved into the case, everyone around her started to suspect the dead assassin that she gutted but out of nowhere, Villanelle resurfaced, alive, claiming innocence and it was up to Eve to prove it. A dangerous game began as Eve raced against the clock to find the serial killer but this time, Villanelle is on her side. In every game, there is always something to lose and Villanelle refused to be beaten especially if Eve’s life is at stake regardless if she ends up dead.





	1. Guilt can be a little suffocating

Eve dreamed of death.

Eve’s eyelids fluttered—her breath slowly becoming uneven, a sure sign that it’s going to be another nightmare. In her sleep, it was the same as those past months—warm blood spilling in her hands, a painful groan reverberating inside that apartment, an accentuated voice that tinged with hurt—telling her that she really like Eve.  Those wide golden-green eyes laced with betrayal as she slowly pulled out the knife that Eve willing plunged into that smooth stomach.

It was too late—it was always too late even in her dreams. Eve tried to press her hands to stop it from profusely bleeding—from that familiar yet terrifying face from dying but it was always futile. Eve could almost feel herself shaking herself into consciousness, fighting the same nightmare every night since that day but it was like her heart was trying to struggle against those painful memories just to quench Eve’s thirst to see that face again. That angelic face that could easily crush it’s targets windpipe…that face that could kill without any remorse… that face that killed her best friend… that face that drove her insane with obsession.

A sob rocked Eve’s frame and tears slowly rolled from her closed eyes before she could shake herself from that familiar nightmarish dream and as usual, she woke up gasping and panting, her hands covering her face and a hand held tight to her mouth to hold back the whimper trying to escape from her scratchy throat.

Eve’s regrets in dreams followed but this time, she let it consume her. It had been almost half a year but Eve can picture Villanelle’s cherubic face vividly when the woman laid beside her. Racking her brain now, Eve could honestly tell now that the assassin showed a shred of vulnerability the moment their eyes met, the moment Villanelle softly tucked Eve’s unruly hair behind her ears. It may have been a fleeting moment but now that she stops and think about it hard, Eve saw Oksana, the woman beneath that cold psychotic persona that assassin cocooned herself in. Eve fought back another sob that threatened to surface again, she didn't need this anymore. She's tired…she' so tired of thinking the "what if's" between them. She's bloody tired of thinking where would they be today if she didn't kill Villanelle. Would she be with Eve? Sleeping on the other side of the bed that her husband vacated? Would she be happy despite how much blood Villanelle’s hands carry? Would she be happy with her despite the chaos surrounding them?

 _God_ , Eve scoffed at herself in the darkness, shaking her head as she looked outside of the window. Blinking away the remaining tears, Eve thought with sorrow that even in Villanelle’s death she had no peace.

***

Clearly, this is going to be a shitty day for Eve as she grumpily pushed her messy hair away from her eyes and exhaled with frustration. She had a sleepless night courtesy of her nightmare, a shitty appearance because of rush hour that turns the commuters in London vicious and now, a mysterious summon from Carolyn. Yep, a summon from her former boss wasn’t a good sign for the day.

After the events in Paris, Eve’s life went downhill. She got demoted in her work because she’s gone rogue and bypassed a direct order, Niko divorced her—well, Eve was the first one who suggested it but for the sake of saving face, her ex-husband initiated it. They had to divide everything that they accumulated for the fifteen years of their marriage. The house, which she eventually bought the half from his husband, their money from their joint account…to be honest, Eve thought that it would be hard to see him go but when they finalized everything, a part of Eve was relieved and happy which made her feel like a jerk. They might have remained friends but neither of the two instigated a contact, well, being dumped by your wife because of a psychotic lesbian didn't really ensure any friendly contact between them but hopefully, Niko can forgive her…someday. 

Eve annoyingly ran her right hand in her unruly curls, annoyed at current thoughts. Usually, she could control her raging feelings, repressing it, channeling it to a productive way but last night nightmare must have triggered something in Eve and she hates it. The same ache rose, pounding, thrashing, reminding the hollowness in her chest that she always tried to forget.

“Ms. Polastri?”

Blinking herself from stupor, Eve cleared her throat to hide her thoughts. “Uhm, Hello… Carolyn called for me?”

Carolyn’s secretary eyed her oddly as if she has grown another head. "Yes, she's free for you now. You may come in,”

Eve murmured thanks before taking a deep breath. She knocked hesitantly, suddenly nervous at her predicament. After hearing a soft “come in”, Eve breathed in a little to quell her uneasiness before opening the door to see her former boss.

Carolyn was talking someone in the phone but gestured to Eve to sit. Shuffling in her feet, Eve quickly sat down in front of her.

“Are you sure?” Eve risked a glance at Carolyn’s profile and she was surprised to see that the usual calm façade of the woman isn’t engaged. “All of them?”

Eve looked away as if suddenly afraid of getting caught of looking at the older woman. Her eyes roamed around, taking in the place. Carolyn's office hadn't changed; it was still spotlessly clean…orderly. There are no personal items lying around, no coffee mug, no knick-knacks, and no sign of life behind the woman in front of her. Somehow, Eve knew that it fits Carolyn. The woman wasn’t the type that deals or gossips about her colleague’s life nor shares hers.

“No trace? No evidence? Anything?” Carolyn's mouth tightened, a frown marred her usual smooth face which surprised Eve.  There must be something important happening that made her former boss a little edgy. 

“Okay. If your team happens to discover something, anything—contact me as soon as possible. You still have my personal number right? Good, good… I’ll talk to you later,”

Straightening her back, Eve tried to look calm and collected. Eve remained silent, letting Carolyn compose herself before going down to business. “I apologized but this is kind of a sudden, Eve,”

“Oh, It’s okay, uhm… is there something you need from me?” Carolyn sighed before leaning back into her chair and somehow it unnerved Eve when the woman in front of her calculatingly watched her. 

“Do you still remember what happened in Paris?” Eve’s heart inevitably slammed in her chest at Carolyn’s words and an audible gasp escaped her now pale lips.

“Why?” Her voiced evidently strained when she asked Carolyn.

“Did you actually kill Villanelle?” The moment her name was mentioned, a shiver ran at Eve’s frame and this time she didn’t bother to hide it.

“Yes, I did. I saw her bleed with my own eyes, Carolyn.” Eve stopped but her eyes burning with questions. “What’s this? What’s happening?”

“You see… there had been a couple of incidents happening around and it's starting to generate attention from above." Carolyn reached for a few folders beside her and paused to open it then thrusts it towards Eve.

Eve’s hands trembled as she unhurriedly inspected the pictures inside the folder and a bolt of that familiar exhilaration shot through her veins as she realized that it was pictures of crime scenes. Hiding her awe, Eve studied it silently. All victims were women and, Eve faltered when she saw their features. Her throat ran dry and with a trembling hand, Eve browsed all the pictures. Jesus Christ, she said to herself as she gripped the entire folder with her clammy hands.

“Yes, all of them were Asians with curly black hair, ages thirty to forty-five years old," Carolyn said quietly as if she was talking to herself. "The first victim was found five months ago around Paris, the cause of death was a stab in the abdomen, there's a lack of defensive wounds which made the investigators think that the culprit managed to lure the victims into a safe spot to murder them.” Carolyn reached inside the folder and took a stapled document at the back of the pictures.

“There’s vaginal bruising that indicates that they were sexually molested before they were killed but there was no trace inside the vagina. There was no DNA trace at the body, no physical evidence around the dumping site but as you can see, we have a reason to think that it might be Villanelle particularly with her… obsession with you.”

“She wouldn’t do this,” Eve’s clarification was rushed, breathless, and it was said in a defensive manner. Carolyn’s eyebrow rose at Eve’s reaction, maybe she was expecting the woman to freak out, to demand more details about the murder but she wasn’t expecting Eve to defend the assassin without preamble.

“Dare I ask how did you come up with that conclusion?”

Eve had no idea. The words came out of her mouth didn’t even register her brain before she could utter it but she knew in her mind—her heart, that Villanelle… no, Oksana wouldn't do such a thing. So Eve just shook her head, arguments stuck in her throat, words that Eve felt like that even she can explain, Carolyn wouldn’t appreciate.

“You know that we need some justification why do you think Villanelle isn’t capable of those acts,” Her former boss murmured softly and for a moment, Carolyn made her feel like Eve was a child in dire need of sympathy.

“I know that you have feelings for her, no… Eve, give me some credit here,” Eve hastily shut her mouth when a slight irritation tainted Carolyn’s mouth.  “I sympathize with you Eve, I mean, you saw me with Konstantin right? Although I’m not sure what you really do feel for the woman but the fact that it IS there, and it’s jeopardizing the real issue here. Villanelle is a psychopath, Eve and this,” Carolyn impatiently leaned towards Eve who was shell-shocked at her outburst, pointed out the pictures. “Might be her work, and you could be the next,”

After Carolyn’s flare-up, the silence followed was harsh, Eve’s eyes slightly wide at her allegation. She might be right, maybe her unknown feelings for the assassin might have clouded her rational thinking but, her heart ached at the possibility that Villanelle might have crossed some line that Eve didn’t know if she could forgive. But…

“You know that Villanelle isn’t stupid enough to create an MO that can be traced to her," At Eve's remark, something flickered in Carolyn's eyes which boosted her confidence. "Villanelle knows that she's already in our radar and frankly if she really did this, it is a sure fire way to gain our attention which by the way is very stupid for a supposedly cunning assassin, and look, I stabbed her remember? But no one knows where I stabbed her,” Eve laid out the pictures of the victims one by one and she pointed out the stab wounds.

"I stabbed Villanelle at her right side of abdomen but all of the victims died from a stab wound at their left side of abdomen, Villanelle and I was the only ones who knew where I stabbed her. How can you explain that only after a month, she started killing these women when she was supposed to be recovering from a stab wound?” Eve managed to bit her tongue before she could spill additional information. Now that she had time to recover from Carolyn’s information overload, she could swear with her life that Villanelle wouldn’t do such acts. Her assassinations always had a bit of flair, a bit show off for everyone’s liking, her kills were packed of ego, because Villanelle knew that she’s clever and to be honest, if Eve can ask Villanelle, she’s sure that the reason why Villanelle assassinations are different from each other was to keep herself from being bored. New target, different flavor, fresh challenge. Serial killing is boring, Villanelle would probably say it with a pout in her face.

Eyes fixed at Eve’s face, Carolyn leaned back in her chair and hummed softly. “You’re still impressive as ever,”

Eve blinked slowly, suddenly confused at the turns of event. “What? Is this some kind of test?”

Carolyn just shrugged and for the first time since she entered the room, Eve was annoyed at her. “I’m not saying that you’re right but we need another fresh set of eyes in this case which you have proven yourself useful, as usual.”

“Wow, thanks,” Eve sarcastically said while stopping herself from tossing the folder she was holding. Who wouldn’t be pissed when someone was yanking your feelings left and right just to prove their goddamn point?

“I'm not saying that you're right but given that our brain is wired the same way, and with your background with Villanelle, I suggested that we include you in our investigation,”

Eve tried to hide her grimace at Carolyn’s words about their brain but she ended up making a face. Seriously? Villanelle isn’t really a good example for her. Ha! As if an assassin sets up a good example.  “Are you saying that I’m going to be a part of this official investigation?”

Carolyn nodded to her. “Correct. I’m leading the team, Kenny and Elena are already in it with a few new agents to help us and tomorrow, same time but at the conference room, we’ll have a team briefing. I suggest you prepare yourself,”

She’ll be a part of a new team, a serial murder case, Eve lightheadedly said to herself as she tried to hide her excitement. Eve has always been captivated by murders, maybe because of the analytical side of her that craves to be used, to practice it. She always wanted to dissect it, wanted to understand why they were pushed to do such things, why this MO, what did they feel every time they extinguished the light behind their victims' eyes. But when Eve came face to face with a real-life murderer, her whole being is torn between fascination and terror—chasing Villanelle made her feel…alive… and now, the woman she was obsessed with, is probably somewhere, alive and perhaps killing women thinking—visualizing that it was Eve.

“I’m in,” Eve said in breathless anticipation, suddenly felt very alive after months of living in a dazed empty routine.

“Good, you can take the day off and take this with you,” The older woman leaned towards her to give a stack of folders. “You should acquaint yourself with every information in there so you’re up to date with the case.”

“Thanks,” Eve said as she hurriedly took the stacks of folders, afraid that Carolyn would change her mind.

"Eve?" Carolyn called her before she could step out of her office. Eve looked back, balancing the folders under her armpits. "If your conclusion is true, you need to be careful. It only means that someone out there is murdering women with the likes of you and this time, this killer won't likely spare your life."

Nodding gravely, Eve squared her shoulder before stepping out of the room. Ignoring Carolyn’s secretary’s strange look, she thanked her and walk towards the lift. All of a sudden, Eve was looking forward to going home to that empty house. One heck of a day to start Eve said as she stepped out of the elevator as it dings loudly and one heck of a day to end theirs, as she remembered the victims.

***

If someone could see her now, Eve could bet that they will find her… extremely odd. An ordinary looking middle-aged Asian woman, eating Chinese take outs with a glass full of wine beside her, was eyeing nonchalantly over some gruesome crime scene pictures as if it was part of her normal routine. Back then, Eve had to hide some of her case from Niko, not entirely because of its delicate info but because she’s ashamed to admit that she always got a kick out of it but now…

Her eyes narrowed when she noticed the locations of the murders, she absentmindedly reached out for her wine, swallowing her chewed food before taking a sip. It started in Paris, slowly working its way around Europe. Italy, Belgium, Spain…

Eve plunged her chopsticks at her box of Kung Pao Chicken as she reached for her pen to write, “Connection between the locations of murder” and she bit her lower lip, pen poised over the paper. It puzzled her why Asian looking women? Is the suspect a racist? Why middle age? Maybe mommy issues? Why stabbing? It must be personal so it has to be face to face when the suspect had to kill but if it was really personal, why a single stab when the suspect could hack away her body? The kill seems…detached… A little cold for something that supposed to be a personal kill.

Only the scratching sound of her pen could be heard inside the silence of the living room. Eve was so engrossed at her theories that it took three doorbells before Eve could notice that someone was at the door. She cursed when she accidentally spilled her wine at her shirt. Noting that she had to laundry it before it stains, Eve quickly rose, almost slipping, she shouted, “Wait up, I’m coming,”

Still trying swat away the wine clinging from the fabric of her shirt, Eve distractedly opened the main door. “Sorry about that, I’m having dinner—,” Whatever Eve was about to say severely got caught in her throat as Eve’s eyes laid Villanelle.

Everything inside her bloomed, like flowers in spring and at that moment, Eve was star struck at how beautiful Villanelle was.

The assassin stood in front of the door, wearing a soft smile that curved her lips, the rich golden green eyes slightly crinkled with a genuine joy flourishing inside those irises as Villanelle tilted her head, like an adorable puppy making those honeyed locks of hair ruffle in the wind, scattering a scent that was uniquely hers. “Hello, Eve…”

In that instance, she knew, Eve is fucked up.

***

**A/N:**

**The title of this fic came from a very popular insult by William Shakespeare.**   **I'm finished writing Chapter two and i'm halfway done with Chapter three. As soon as i'm done with it, i'll post it asap. I hope you'll hang around and read it. I live for Kudos and comments, so feel free to hit me up. Thanks!**

 

 

 


	2. COURTSHIP FOR DUMMIES

“Don’t shout!” Villanelle hissed as she quickly entered the door, slightly jostling the older woman. Eve stumbled back as Villanelle figure suddenly filled her personal space.

“Oh my god, you’re okay,” Elegant eyebrows rose at Eve’s words.

“Of course I’m okay, so stop spreading rumors that I’m dead. You really did a number on my rep,” Villanelle said exasperatingly, a little annoyed at Eve’s lack of faith in her.

Villanelle closed the door behind her and sidestepped Eve who was still gaping at her. She slowly unwrapped her soft looking red scarf around her neck while Villanelle walked towards where Eve previously sat.

"I hate this fucking weather," Villanelle shrugged off her black trench coat. Inside of it, she was wearing a white V-neck shirt that accentuates her collarbone. A tight-fitting denim jean partnered with black converse shoes and it made Villanelle look…normal. Like a college student on break. She looked young… soft and vulnerable… but it was always her eyes. There was a profound lost look in it and words were much too simple for the intensity to describe it.

“Are you here for revenge?” Still rooted at the same spot, Eve asked her carefully.

“Is that all you can think about? Violence?” Eve scoffed at Villanelle’ words. Fueled by annoyance, Eve stalked the assassin. Villanelle clumsily dropped into the sofa and raised her right foot to take off her shoes.

“What? You’ve got to be kidding me!”

“Why? You’re the one who stabbed me here, remember? If there’s someone who should be worried here, it should be me. You know,” Villanelle grunt as she shook off her shoes, it flew and both women watched as it dropped near Eve’s wine. “Sorry,” The assassin said sheepishly before continuing. “Anyways, what was I was saying? Yeah, I should frisk you first before I let you near me. I don’t really like being stabbed. Too painful and the medicines that I had to drink tastes like shit. And they had to minimize my food intake! Imagine that! I’m not used to eating little portions of food, killing takes a lot of energy.”

“I’m sorry,” Eve heard herself saying. Wow, is this one of Villanelle's skill? Make feel people guilty for defending themselves against a psychopath like her? Well, not technically self-defense when Eve was the one who attacked first but the woman is dangerous for god sake!

Villanelle shrugged, and warmth flooded Eve’s chest. Villanelle’s gaze always felt like a physical blow, a punch in the gut that she hadn’t able to evade. When Eve first saw the assassin, a warning sign didn’t blip off. There’s no indication that the woman who hungrily stared at her in the hospital bathroom was the ruthless assassin she’s been chasing.

“What’s for dinner?” The young woman ignored her apology as she reached out for the takeout boxes in the table.

“Chinese?” Eve answered hesitantly. “Want me to order more?”

“No need,” Villanelle said as she opened one of the boxes and shoveled food into her mouth. Sensing that Villanelle wasn’t out to stab her, the older woman decided to get the blonde her own glass wine.

“Thanks,” Villanelle murmured as she swallowed. The young woman glanced at Eve as she sat down beside her. “You should eat before it gets cold,”

Accepting that Villanelle won't be killing her anytime soon, Eve reached for her opened take outbox. A few minutes of silence followed the younger woman engrossed in her food, not minding Eve who was watching her with rapt attention. "Why are you here?"

"Well, aside from the fact that you owe me, there’s someone out there murdering women with the same profile as you,"

Eve’s heart clenched at Villanelle’s words. “You’re worried about me?” she said in a hushed tone of surprise.

“I know right? Surprised me too, especially after you stabbed me,” Eve swallowed her laugh. The young woman had a point.

“Everyone thinks that it’s you,”

“Do you?” Villanelle countered quickly.

“No,” Eve’s conviction must have convinced Villanelle, she watched Eve for a few seconds before she resumed attacking her food.

“It’s not me,” Villanelle said nonchalantly and Eve believed her.

"I know, it's not really your MO," Villanelle, while her mouth still full of food, nodded at Eve to continue. "You don't kill in patterns, you like variation. You're clever, and you like showing it off with every assassination. You're not afraid of risks, in fact, you thrived in them, the higher the risk—the more you became creative—reckless, which caught my attention. Up until now, no one can connect your victims, no one could tell the reason, no witnesses, no physical evidence, and most of all, no one claims it."

“Until you,” Villanelle was staring at her with unfathomable eyes and Eve couldn’t—wouldn’t break the connection.

“Yes,” Eve cleared her throat, swallowing the huskiness in her voice. 

“All you said about me is correct but the truth is, serial killing is boring, it’ll probably make me want to kill myself eventually,” Villanelle said with an adorable pout in her lips which prompted Eve to laugh.

“Why are you laughing at me?”

Eve just shook her head while chuckling. “I actually said the same thing to Carolyn, except the fact that serial killing would probably bore you to death. Not really a good way to appeal your innocence,”

“You stood up for me?” It was barely there but Eve managed to hear a quiver in Villanelle’s voice and her eyes softened at it.

“You’ll probably hunt me down if I let them disrespect you like that, comparing you to a second-rate murderer,” Eve grinned when the young woman threw her head as she laughed out loud.

“Now, you’re sounding out like a real fan of mine, not that I have many,” Eve rolled her eyes at the grinning assassin.

“It’s not like you’re letting them live,”

“HEY! I’m not killing everyone I know! It’s too messy and attracts too much attention.”

Eve threw her a disapproving look. “Gee, thanks,”

“Well, I’m not the one who stabbed someone here so don’t be hypocritical,”

“I already apologized, Jesus, when you will let that go?”

"Neverrrrr," Villanelle said in a Russian accent and it elicited a shuddering reaction from the older woman.  "I thought were going to have sex, you know. You have this whole speech thing about you thinking about me all the time then, the nerve of you to stab me. I understand that it might be your first time to have sex with a woman and you're nervous but there's no need to get stabby."

“We were not going to have sex that time!” Eve screeched her face red with embarrassment.

“Really?” Eve wanted to smack Villanelle’s annoying smug face. “That’s too bad. I had this whole speech prepared to woo you and I even told you that I masturbate about you a lot—,”

“Oh my god, oh my gooood,” The older woman groaned loudly. “Can someone please stab me now?”

“Nope, can’t do that now. You’re my favorite,” It was said in a matter-of-factly, it made Eve’s heart lurch inside her chest.  Her cheeks flushed with pleasure, Eve resumed eating but she’s failing to stifle the smile in her lips. “Am I doing right? Wooing you? Maybe now we could have—“

“Oh, shut up and eat, you’re ruining the moment,”

“Rude,” Villanelle said as she sticks out her tongue to her.

***

“So…?”

“So?” Villanelle mimicked her.

“Where are you going to stay for the night?”

“I’m staying with you,” Villanelle said with pleasure alight in her face.

“What? You can’t, Niko might come home any—“

“Hush, I know that you two are divorced now,”

Eve was silent for a moment. “You’re stalking me…”

“Whaaaat? NO! Don’t be absurd, I’m not obsessed with you,” The young woman emphasized it by scoffing but Eve only raised her eyebrows at Villanelle, a complete picture of innocence.

Sensing that Eve won’t let the subject drop, Villanelle sighed loudly and shrugged. “In my defense, I was just curious what your husband sent you. It’s not like I read the whole thing. I’m not _THAT_ obsessed with you,” The assassin accentuates it by rolling her eyes at Eve.

Eve just narrowed her eyes at her before continuing. “You know that it’s not safe for you to be outside and don’t you have things to do? What happened to The Twelve?”

“I’m done with them,” The assassin said nonchalantly.

“What? Why?” Villanelle frowned at Eve’s surprise.

“Why do you sound so surprised? You kept telling everyone I’m dead. What do you expect?”

“B-But… they didn’t even check if you’re really dead?”

“They did. When I tried to get back to my flat some men where already there with my new handler, I reckon they are really making sure if I came back or if something is missing but with the mess that YOU made last time, I think it convinced them that I’m really dead.”

“That’s it?” Villanelle just nodded to her as she raised her foot socked feet at the coffee table.

“Apparently, you’re convincing enough though you could at least showed a little mercy to my unblemished underground reputation.”

Eve should be happy that the young woman is finally giving up her murderous lifestyle but… Villanelle was built for it. It's in her blood. What would happen if one day, Villanelle just said fuck it and started a killing spree out of boredom. Sensing her confusion, Villanelle softly patted Eve's hand in assurance.

"Don't worry, I have lots of money you know, The Twelve pays well so I managed to save a lot to my offshore accounts," The assassin leaned towards her and whispered with a devious voice. "I'm a millionaire,"

“That’s not what I’m worried about, what will you do now?”

“Oh? Well, I’ve been thinking about retiring for a while now. I just don’t know how I’ll manage to escape the organization alive, so it’s a good thing you stabbed me, thank you by the way,” Villanelle grinned toothily at her.

“Is that why you’re not here to kill me?”

“One of the reasons,” Villanelle made a face. “You know what I want right?”

Realization hit her when Eve remembered what Villanelle really wants. “Oh…” _Nice life. Cool flat. Fun job. Someone to watch movies with._

“Oksana…” As Eve achingly whispered her old name, Villanelle’s stomach fluttered. “You know that it’s not easy. You’re a wanted person. MI6 thinks you’re still alive and they suspect you for the deaths of Asian women here in Europe. The Twelve may get intel that you're alive and they might eliminate you and it’s not like you can just go outside, someone might recognize you, and…" Eve's voice turned harsh with sadness and…pain which twisted something inside of Villanelle's gut. 

“You killed my best friend, Oksana…and I haven’t forgiven you for it…” Villanelle willed herself not to react. She thought of this. All of it. But it still didn’t prepare Villanelle from the assault of Eve’s pure agony.

The Twelve trained her to be a cold-blooded killer, scientifically labeled as a psychopath but she always had the potential. Before The Twelve could sink their hands on her, Oksana already killed—they just pushed Oksana further in her darkness.

They trained her to be a killing machine, someone who doesn’t show remorse, pity, who doesn’t feel fear.  Oksana was weak and Villanelle isn’t. Oksana let herself get hurt and be abused by the people she loves, Villanelle didn’t let anyone near her, and she built walls around heart so no one could ever hurt her again. Villanelle managed to survive, eat whatever she wants without getting hit, and wear fancy clothes that she enviously wants from other kids. They did a good job and she became someone she wanted. Until Eve.

Villanelle isn’t a religious person but the second she laid her eyes on Eve, she finally understood what Adam felt in the bible. Everything about the older woman fascinated her. It wasn’t even remotely close to what she felt about Anna.

Now everything she buried—killed, every feeling, her remaining conscience, her yearnings…her dreams burst and for the first time in Villanelle's life, she felt painfully alive. And god, it felt sinfully good.

“I’m sorry,” Villanelle heard herself saying and her heart twinge in… guilt…

“Are you?” The assassin’s jaw tightened at Eve’s accusation but she remained stoic. Eve words stung.

“Yes…” Villanelle’s eyes blurred with unshed tears but she didn’t move to wipe it. God, she hates showing weakness but it pains her that the consequence of her action hurt Eve. “I won’t make excuses for what I did but if I can turn back time, I will do the same thing to protect myself,”

“God,” Eve laughed ruefully while she shook her head. “Somehow, Oksana, it didn’t make me feel better,”

All Villanelle could do was to watch Eve walk away from her.

***

Eve came back with a pillow and a blanket. All she said was "you can stay here for the meantime," but it was enough to soothe Villanelle's aching heart.

Villanelle grumpily punched her pillows, trying to find a semblance of comfort in it. Her hands itch to take her hidden knife at the waistband of her pants to slash the shitty pillow but decided to just punch it. It wouldn’t probably help her case with Eve if she found the pillows slashes into pieces. God, she aches to kill someone.

At first, she thought that her hunger for blood lust was manageable but as the months go by, her veins buzzed in need. Villanelle almost gave in, to lose herself in it and announces herself to The Twelve that she’s alive, ready to be their weapon again but the yearning that she felt for Eve was stronger.

She sighed loudly, finally sinking her head into the pillow. _I guess I just have to settle with that bloody serial killer_ , Villanelle thought as she adjusted the blanket around her.

She wasn't really interested in that murderer, cause god, they bore her with their methodical mind but when Villanelle read that its victims catered around Eve's profile, it chilled her to the bone. Villanelle was recovering from her stab wound but after the second death, she decided to protect Eve from a distance.

She rented a flat near Eve’s house so she could watch the older woman at night. In the morning, she’ll follow Eve on her way to work then leave after she’s sure that the older woman was not alone—safe, then after Eve’s work, she follows her until she’s safe at home. It became a routine for Villanelle for four months. It was boring but as long as Eve is safe, it’ll do.

She should buy new clothes tomorrow once Eve is at work, she said internally as Villanelle rolled to her right side. It saddened her that she had to settle for boring clothes. Just plain t-shirts, blouse, sweater, jeans, and shoes. She can’t afford to wear her usual loud and flamboyant clothes or she’ll walk with a big target sign on her back, begging to be shot.

Villanelle yawned and felt herself relax into a sleepy sigh. She reached for her knife to assure herself that she’s prepared to protect Eve. She yawned again but this time, it was long and her eyes were slowly drifting to sleep. Maybe tomorrow, Eve won’t be mad at her anymore. It sucks when Eve is angry at her. She just wanted the older woman to be happy with her. Maybe she can do something to make Eve happy. Yep, she can think of something but she's really sleepy. She'll think of something tomorrow but for now… It felt good to finally relax but she secretly wished that she's in Eve’s bed, cuddling the woman to sleep.

***

It felt like a dream, Eve thought as she stared at the ceiling above her. It felt like a long time since the last time she wept for the woman downstairs and for the past few months, her whole mind was consumed by guilt but last night…

Her initial reaction when she first saw the assassin was to scream but when Villanelle vulnerably smiled at her, like she was afraid of her reaction every fight in her body left and Eve’s body sagged in relief. Villanelle’s not dead. She’s safe and she came back to her. Eve wanted to weep.

Eve slowly took off the duvet around her and she soundlessly pushed herself off the bed. Last night discussion opened a lot of wounds in Eve but she wanted to be honest with Villanelle. She might be attracted to the young woman but everything about them wouldn't be easy. If they're really going to try to be together, Eve might as well open the can of worms now than later. Just thinking about it gives her a headache and it was just six in the morning. Exhaling, Eve decided to prepare breakfast for them before going to work.

Tiptoeing, Eve ventured downstairs. As it turns out, Villanelle is still in deep slumber, half of her face pushed into her pillow and blanket covered up to her shoulder. Eve smiled softly at Villanelle's image. She must be exhausted from all that hiding she did from the authorities and The Twelve that she didn't even detect Eve’s presence.

She walked towards the slumbering woman and as she neared the sofa, Eve leaned in to take a closer look. It took a hell of an effort to not to reach out Villanelle's soft cheeks. She wanted to touch her, to soothe away last night pain she caused when Eve accused her and it worried Eve that she very much wanted to just forget everything and just dive in blindly to whatever feelings she has for this woman. God, they haven't touched each other yet. Imagine the havoc it will create once both women let their feelings escape. Will it save them? Or are they destined to be doomed?

“Are you still mad at me?”

“Christ,” Eve jumped a little, spooked when the woman she was observing suddenly spoke. “Oksana, you could at least told me that you’re already awake!”

“I like it when you watch me sleep, it feels nice,” Eve face reddened at the young woman’s revelation. “I’m sorry for last night,” Oksana said gravely as she opened her eyes, those eyes more golden than green slid to hers and held. The apology was said with sincerity and Eve could almost hear a sheer of pain laced through those words. And it made Eve wonder when the last time Oksana apologized for her actions.

Eve sighed before reaching out to touch the young woman’s hair. “It’s okay…” Eve honestly didn’t know what to say. She let her hand slide through Oksana’s soft and silky locks, it felt good as those blonde hair curls around her fingers, teasing her what would it feel like, if Eve buried her face in it. Like a cat, Oksana’s eyes fluttered and she relaxed at Eve’s hand as she slightly scratched Oksana’s scalp.

“This feels good,” Oksana murmured to herself and Eve smiles softens at her sudden display of affection.

“Hungry?” The older woman teasingly tugged Oksana’s hair to gain her attention before pushing herself away from the sofa. She really needs to get going or else she’ll be late for the teams’ briefing.

“Ravenous,” It was said with an accent Eve wasn’t familiar with and the older women wanted to curse her body from reacting from it. She wasn’t even like this with Niko for Christ sake.

“I was talking about food,” Oksana had the nerve to smile innocently which prompted Eve to roll her eyes at the young woman.

“I was talking about you,”

“Pervert,”

“Only for you, my dear,” Eve only chuckled when Oksana said it with a perfect English accent and batted her eyes at her.

Eve made her way towards her kitchen and reached out for the bag of coffee above her. She scooped a few spoonful of coffee and slid it inside the coffee maker. The only sound that could be heard around was the whirring sound of the machine and Oksana’s footsteps around the living room. She reached for mugs above the cupboard, took down some loaf bread and a jar of honey.

She could feel Oksana’s eyes watching her back as she spooned sugar and cream to their respective mugs and poured some coffee in it. “What will you do today?”  Eve asked without looking at her.

“I’ll try to find that serial killer,”

"What?!" Eve's hand slipped at the mug she was holding but Oksana was faster, she swoops it before it could fall down to the sink. "Crap, aren't you burned?" Eve grasped Oksana's hand and she pulled it under the running water. A lot of hot coffee splashed at her hands but Eve was astonished when the young woman didn’t even blink.

"It's nothing, I have a high tolerance for pain,'" But Oksana just let her hand be taken by Eve. Her stomach fluttered when Eve's fingers stroke hers. Maybe she could let herself get hurt more so she could at least have a reason for Eve to touch her. 

Oksana knows that Eve has feelings for her, she admitted it to her and it was delightedly reciprocated but after everything happened between them, Oksana knows that Eve was still torn about it. She might not know how to normally react to these things but Oksana knew that she has to respect Eve's boundaries and feelings. But every time Eve would initiate contact, a touch…every time she reached out for her, Oksana could feel her entire being coil in anticipation… she wanted to devour Eve, she wanted to forget the patience and control she promised to give Eve and just ravage her.

“What? Did they even train you in that?” Eve teased her.

“Yes, they trained me for that. They tortured and starved me for months to test my loyalty for the organization,” Oksana flinched when some water splashed at her face as Eve rubbed her burnt hands.

“Are you actually serious?” Eve paled under the sunlight.

“Uh…Yes?” She was suddenly hesitant to confirm it to Eve, afraid that the woman will stop rubbing her hands.

“Jesus Christ…” Oksana remained silent. Now she’s confused if she actually did the right thing for answering Eve’s question honestly. She read at a magazine that the key to a successful relationship is communication but there were certain times that Oksana was uncertain to reveal such things to Eve especially that their relationship is far more different from the normal ones.

“Sorry,” Oksana mumbled. At least the apologizing part was easy, she thinks to herself. And gift giving is probably what she knew the most so she guessed that handling relationship would be a piece of cake.  She still doesn’t understand why the Americans would use a piece of cake metaphorically for something that is easy to deal with. Weird.

“You did what you had to do to survive, you don’t have to apologize for that,” Eve reigned in her fury. They really treated Oksana like an animal, a weapon for them to use whenever they want and conditioned her to be compliant and loyal.

“Okay,” The younger woman nodded meekly.  They were silent for a moment. After a few minutes, Eve turned off the water and dried Oksana’s hand.

“Are you really going to hunt that serial murderer?” Oksana bobbed her head, gauging her reaction. “Why?”

“Because people are starting to suspect that it was me. The government and The Twelve already assumed that I’m dead but this shitty killer popped out of nowhere and started killing these beautiful women. They knew that the victims are my tastes and if they investigate enough, and believe me they will, they might accidentally discover that I’m not really dead.”

“Oh…,” Eve was a little disappointed at the fact that her safety wasn’t really the reason why Oksana suddenly wanted to hunt the killer. That was kind of…narcissistic of her, she cringed at her thoughts.

“I’m not really interested at the killer, you know,” Oksana took one of the mugs in front of them and sipped before continuing. “I might have let him loose a little so the attention of the government would focus on him so I could just hover around their radar without getting caught but after I learned about his taste in Asian women, I had to go back to you,”

Eve ignored the sudden burst of butterflies in her stomach at Oksana’s words. “But the victims weren’t around here,”

“Yes but it is almost here,” Oksana said casually as she took another sip before reaching a piece of loaf bread and bit it.

“What do you mean?”

“Tsk, tsk, tsk, Eve,” Oksana smugly tutted at her. "Have you let your mind go stagnant? I was just missing for a few months," 

Eve swiftly reached out and to Oksana’s horror, the older woman pinched her side which made Oksana squeal humiliatingly. “Did you just shriek?”

To her further mortification, Oksana’s face reddened. “I DID NOT!” Eve started to laugh at her.

“You did!”

“That was a manly shout!” Oksana gritted her teeth in embarrassment. She thought that all of her senses were already numb from all the pain and torture she experienced so she was so shocked when a bolt of pleasurable pain surge through her nerves when Eve tickled her.

“Maybe I could pass intel to The Twelve that they should train their assassins in tickle torture," Eve's eyes flashed with amusement when Oksana pouted at her.

“Keep teasing me and I won’t breathe a word about the clue I was about to give you,”

“Okay,” Eve swallowed her laugh, chuckling a little before raising her hands in defeat. “Do tell,”

The young woman harrumphed at Eve and she had to bit her lips from grinning. “All of the locations can be reached by train, a walking distance from the stations. You just have to narrow and pinpoint the exact location where this shit head was coming from,"

Eve crossed her arms around her chest as awareness slowly hit her. “Now that I think about it, you’re right,” Oksana shrugged, while she took another slice of bread to smother it with honey.

“Do you think it’s personal? It kind of gave me a vibe that it’s a little personal but somewhat detached. It's a lot different from your assassinations, yours has flair like you're bragging but this… it felt like he just had to kill her, a means to an end.”

“Spot-on,” Oksana chewed pensively as she leaned her back at the sink. “There’s a high probability that he’s killing because he wants to and there’s a drive—a motivation behind it. Serial killers are often predictable but this one? There’s no growth,”

“Explain,” Eve demanded as she took her own mug to drink her now cold coffee.

"Every killer starts small, at first they usually kill their pets. Then as they grow older, they're slowly discovering the pleasure behind snuffing their victim's life. Their first human kill is usually accidents but that's the building blocks of a serial killer. After that, they'll experiment with their victims, slowly establishing a taste at how they would like to kill their victims, police calls it MO.  Then they'll start their killing spree," Oksana stopped to swallow her remaining bread and sipped her coffee.

“During their killing spree, the serial killers usually become bold, reckless especially if he manages to escape the law during it and that’s when things escalate. Then they start to make mistakes, leaves little physical evidence, thumbprints, etc. That is usually their downfall, but this one?"

“There’s no escalation,” Eve said thoughtfully, Oksana took another slice of loaf bread and resumed watching the woman beside her. “He didn’t kill her in rage or fury. It was calculated, planned and organized. It was very controlled, matured and very anal. He’s most likely around thirty to forty-five years old, has a stable job, and there’s a great chance that he’s a high functioning sociopath,”

“Stable job?”

“Witnesses discovered the victims around weekends, it corresponds with the TOD,” Eve mumbled.

Oksana beamed at her, obviously delighted to watch how Eve’s mind works. “How did you know it was a man?”

“Rape. Rape is always about power, to make their victim feel powerless, to humiliate, to make them struggle.”

“Try inquiring more about the rape, you might tug some strings in there. It was always the sex that makes men a little sloppy in terms of crime, their heads are usually up in their balls,” Eve threw her a stern look before taking a bite of her bread. It was a bit weird to wake up and talk about murder while having breakfast but for Eve, it wouldn’t get any more normal than this.

Without any mishap and a little more teasing between the two women, Eve finally finished preparing for work. Fishing for her lipstick inside her bag, Eve rushed downstairs towards the mirror in the living room. “If you’re going to gather some information, we might as well pool it in and brainstorm together. Just be careful out there okay?”

“Yes, dear,” Oksana said in her English proper voice which Eve decided to ignore. Some war is not worth fighting for.

“I have to go now, or I’m going to be late,” Taking herself in the mirror for one last time, Eve brushed the curls away from her eyes. Without thinking, Eve made her way towards Oksana, it’s almost too fast to see the quick bolt of surprise at those golden-green eyes when Eve tiptoed for a quick peck in the younger woman’s lips.

Pure pleasure deepened in Oksana’s belly and before she could stop herself, Oksana gripped Eve’s waist and gathered the woman inside her arms. Oksana breathed in her scent, deeply, ran her hands up Eve’s back then turned her face into those lovely locks of hair. Eve’s body fit with hers—like a puzzle that was only made for her.

"Be safe," Oksana murmured in her hair and Eve was shocked to hear the raw tears in the young woman's voice.

Eve let herself get lost in those strong arms around her, she could feel the underlying simmer of ache between them. “I am,” She whispered back and she hoped that Oksana knows that if it was only with her, she is safe.

***

**A/N:**

**I'm halfway done with Chapter 4 and once i'm done with it, I'll post chapter 3. Who's excited for season twooooooooooo?!**


	3. Persistence Hunting

Shit, she’s going to be late. Eve cursed internally as she rushed out the train station, taking two steps at a time and running like a mad man is chasing her. Carolyn's going to give her crap if she’s going to be late to another team briefing again like what happened the first time they met.

“Ooof, Sorry!” She called out without looking back to the man she accidentally ran over. Eve heard the man responded but she was already too far to catch it clearly. She dashed around the corner and took a sharp turn before stopping in front of the MI6’s building.

She quickly slipped inside the glass door and the music that was blasting outside stopped which made Eve eternally grateful. Slipping into her professional mask, Eve jogged towards the escalator in the middle of the building and after a few seconds of pretending that she wasn’t trying to run, Eve finally arrived at the conference room and took a deep breath before knocking.

As she opened the door, Elena and Kenny greeted her with a smile while Carolyn just nodded to her. She quickly took a seat beside Elena. “It’s good to see you, Eve,” Elena said with a genuine smile.  A few seconds later, the door opened again and two men entered.

Carolyn stood up and walked towards the small podium as both men sat beside Eve. “The MI6 authorized and formed a task force and its sole purpose will be to investigate this case, to apprehend the perpetrator. The media haven’t caught a whiff of these deaths nor did they manage to link it to one another, so we need to be discreet as possible. We will use whatever our available resources we have to close this case. Questions?”

The man beside Eve raised his hand. “Why is this case was assigned to us? Most of you aren’t trained for this.” Eve eyed him with distaste but Carolyn only stared at the man.

Carolyn was not an easy one to read but Eve doubted that she wouldn’t climb the ranks if she was. Unreadable eyes, indiscernible face and a depiction of unruffled presence that Eve always envied. “You are…?” It was asked with a thinly veiled of insult that only someone who knew Carolyn could only catch. Kenny squirmed in his seat while Eve and Elena avidly watch how it would play out.

“Brent Walsh Ma’am,”

“Brent, did you know about the organization that’s called The Twelve?”

“Yes…”

“Good,” Carolyn nodded to him. “Could you tell us what do you know about them?”  

“Not a lot,” Brent fidgeted in his seat, suddenly uncomfortable at the attention in him. “All I know was that they’re an organization behind some high political deaths around the world and they enlisted a few assassin services to do their bidding,”

“Fact,” Carolyn gestured for him to continue.

“Uhm… that’s all?”

“Is that it?” At Brent’s blank face, Carolyn gave him a reproachful look, like a mother extremely disappointed to her son. “You see, if it weren’t for this team, the MI6 wouldn’t have any idea that The Twelve exist,”

“Huh?” Carolyn indulgently smiled at the stupefied man and to Eve’s left, Elena tried to hide her laughter instead she snorted inelegantly.

“The woman beside you, Eve Polastri, remember her?” It was almost comical the way Brent glanced at her. "She's is one of the figureheads of that small team who managed to link all of those political deaths. She’s the one who traced, identified and to profile one of their most skilled and prominent assassin that succeeded to avoid the national security for years.” It felt good at how the infamous Carolyn Martens defend her integrity. Eve knew that she ignored a direct order from her superior and she was ready for Carolyn’s disappointment but she had no idea this was what Carolyn thinks of her as an agent. To think she was really irritated at the woman yesterday when she pointed that thing about their brains wired the same. Well, minus the annoyance, it was really flattering.

“Eve might have overlooked a direct command but she managed to trace Villanelle’s exact safe house and most probably, killed the assassin during an altercation.” Eve tried to hide her wince when Carolyn coolly said “killed”. She still didn’t know what to do with the fact that Oksana is confirmed alive. It’s not like she could just come up to Carolyn and bring it up to her. And one of their main problems was the MI6 suspects that the serial killer is Villanelle herself. It’s going to be tricky to hide Oksana from the authorities especially that the young woman was doing her own damn investigation. Maybe the only way to get Oksana out from this mess is to prove her innocence.

“Her? She managed to kill someone?” Eve had a sudden urge to correct him but his tone offended her. He might as well said, “This tiny thing?” and Eve would gladly whack his face.

“It’s not yet confirmed, I mean the murdering part but most of it is correct,” Eve tried to avoid Carolyn’s pointed look but it was really true, MI6 haven’t confirmed Oksana’s death and Eve won’t be the one who will do it.

“So you see, if anyone here is capable enough to find that bloody bastard, it’ll be us, the original members of that team and maybe,” Carolyn narrowed her eyes at Brent who was now had the decency to look ashamed. “There is a reason why the MI6 chose us to lead it. You can always take it to the top if you got any complaint, Mr. Walsh,”

Silence reigned in the room, Eve, Elena and Kenny and the other man sat still while Brent suddenly got interested in his feet.

“Any more question?” Everyone shook their heads. “Good, now we believe all of these women, five women, were murdered by one individual. The only link we found is that they are all middle-aged Asians and they all died with a single stab in the abdomen,” Carolyn paused a moment, to ensure that all of their attention focused now on her. “I would like to know your take on this, Eve,” The older woman said as she gets back to where she was seated before.

“Uh, yes,” Eve opened her folder and her personal notebook. "He's most likely around thirty to forty-five years old, has a stable job, and has high intelligence. He's careful, he’s organized, very anal and patient. He lives alone and probably, a high functioning sociopath.”

“Stable job?” Elena asked her as she took notes.

“TOD matches around weekend so that must be the time he’s free, his schedule to hunt,” Carolyn hummed.

Eve continued. “As I leafed through the information, I just noticed something in the locations of the murder. They are all just a walking distance from the train station and all of the sites are accessible by trains. That must be his stalking grounds. There’s a chance that he doesn’t use private transportation, so we have a high chance of nailing him in CCTV’s around the stations.”

“Kenny, try digging for CCTV vids at the time of deaths,” Kenny nodded to Carolyn.

“The killer used a thin smooth-bladed knife, probably a scalpel. Fast, efficient, sharp, one stab then he’s gone. He needs to do it face to face so I guess, this isn’t his first time. He must have dealt with flesh and blood before, he must have cut into flesh back then…” Eve mused, lost in her head.

“A doctor?” Carolyn suggested.

"It's possible, the wound seems neat like he knows what he's doing," Eve nodded.

“Maybe in the medical or military field," The man with Brent spoke up. He was taller than Brent and he's a bulk of muscles but he seems…sharper than Brent. “Lance Simons. Ma’am,”

“Go on then,” Carolyn seemed to like Lance but then it’s not like they could guess what the older woman was thinking.

“It will take some considerable skill and medical knowledge to stab someone right in the liver. He must have gotten some blood on him but as per autopsy, there is a precision in his stab wound, no other laceration around the flesh, not jagged or sawed so he must have been calm, doesn't panic and clearly, not in a hurry. He's a cold-blooded son of a bitch,”

“He must have charmed them, the victims, or maybe he doesn’t look intimidating so they felt safe enough to be alone with him. No sign of struggle, no defensive wounds or other injuries according to autopsy. ” Eve pondered.

“Must be a hell of a charmer,” Lance agreed.

"True, but what piqued my curiosity is why Asian women?" Elena asked Eve, she must have been dying to ask what Eve thinks of it.

“Believe me, Elena, it’s not Oksana,” At Eve’s words, everyone became silent.

“Oksana?” Brent had the nerve to ask.

“Her underground name is Villanelle, the assassin who was obsessed with Eve.” Eve glared at Elena. It’s not like the two men had to know that obsession part.

“The one she killed?” Lance gave Eve a confused look.

“She’s not dead, okay?!” Everyone except Carolyn flinched when Eve snapped to them.

“What makes you say that?” Carolyn ignored her outburst and just gave her a piercing look.

“I-I… I j-just know it okay? Can we go back to the topic at hand please?” Eve pleaded.

"At least she didn't deny that Villanelle is obsessed with her," Elena muttered which made Kenny smirk.

“Shut up,” Eve hissed as she kicked Elena under the table.

“Children…” Everyone stopped, again, at Carolyn’s remark. After a few seconds of silence, Carolyn said. “Continue, Eve,”

Eve cleared her throat and she hoped that she isn’t blushing. “We are missing his motivation here. We know its murder but he could mutilate the bodies, hack them, torture, he does not escalate in violence but in here, the only thing I could see is to murder them. I need more information, more evidence, are there witnesses?”

“They already canvassed the whole area but no witnesses,” Kenny answered her.

"He's not making any mistakes, but Jesus we can't just sit here and do nothing," Frustrated, Eve ran her hands through her hair. "Kenny, could you do a nationwide search for any crime that is related to this? Just make sure it's about a stab wound attack,"

“How long should I go back?”

“Try three years. It’s a long shot but it’s better than nothing. Listen, I have this gut feeling that he’s onto something,” Eve said as she pointed something in her stapled papers.

“What do you mean?”

“Look at the locations,” All of them pulled their documents from their respective folders. “Can you see a pattern? He’s making a progress…he’s working his way somewhere… probably here in London,”

“Yeah, I see what you mean… but why here?” Lance asked no one in particular and nobody answered him.

“We need to go back,” Eve abruptly said.

“Uhm… where exactly?” Elena asked her, confused at Eve’s relentless tick of mind.

“If you’re overwhelmed and lost, go back to basics. We need to go back to the first victim. I need all the information I could get from the first victim. Why her? Why that location? What did she do? Why did he rape her? That’s the only thing that he lost control of himself…by raping the victims… why rape? To humiliate her? What did they do to you?” Eve fired rapid questions, muttering mostly to herself.

“Christ, she’s sharp,” Lance whispered to Carolyn who beamed like a proud mother.

“Okay, Kenny do your usual stuff, dig those CCTV around the time of the murder, find any related crime or same MO to this case, anything that pops up, tell Eve,”

“On it,”

“Elena, find all information you can get about the first victim, where she works, her background, any personal relationships, autopsy report, all of it, everything. Don’t leave anything behind, you encounter bureaucratic walls? Call me,” Eve could swear Elena’s eyes twinkled as she nodded.

“Brent, if Eve’s prediction might be true, lurk around the train station here in London. If you found an Asian woman that fits the description, follow them from a distance and observe. Do it quietly. If you notice someone, don’t do anything reckless and inform us.”

“Yes, ma’am,”

“What are you going to do, Eve?”

“I would like to go to Paris, I want to get a feel of the scene of the crime. I want to talk to the first officer in the scene. We need to comb everything thoroughly,”

“Okay, Lance, go with Eve and assist her. Before you go, I need to talk to you in private, Lance.” Carolyn signaled Lance as chairs and feet shuffled around the small room. One by one the team dispersed to their assignments while Eve hung back. Carolyn gestured Lance to follow her at the corner of the room.

“I need you to look out for Eve,” Carolyn whispered, totally aware that Eve was observing them.

Lance might have been surprised but there’s no indication of it. “Define look out…” He said carefully.

“As you can see, she fits the profile of the victims. I want you to take care of her and there’s one thing that I need you to know,” Lance leaned in closer as Carolyn’s voice dipped low. “There is a low chance that the killer that we are looking for is Villanelle and I need you to be vigilant whenever you and Eve are on site. When Elena said that Villanelle is obsessed with Eve, she wasn’t joking about it and she’s very dangerous. I need you to protect Eve, don’t let her out of your sight,”

“Affirmative,” Carolyn glanced over the impatient woman. “You can go now, Eve. I can almost feel your excitement here,” Eve’s cheeks reddened and she smiled warily. “Just don’t get reckless like what you did in Paris,”

“I’ll try not to this time,” Eve’s phone rang, she excused herself, she opened her bag to find the ringing phone, after a few grunts, she pulled it out. An unknown number was flashing in the screen, her eyebrows furrowed in question but answered it anyway.

“Hello?” Her whole body screamed when a familiar voice welcomed her.

“Are you going to Paris without me?” Oksana greeted her in a usual playful voice. Jesus fucking Christ, Eve tried to relax her body and her facial expression because Carolyn and Lance were looking at her but she could feel her blood pressure rising and her pulse beating wildly. She's going to strangle Oksana once she gets home, and this time Eve is going to kill her.

“Yes,” Eve bit back the snap in her voice. She was uncharacteristically staring back at Carolyn’s knowing eyes which is kind of give away for someone who is trying to hide something. “How did you know?”

“You’re predictable,” Eve could almost visualize the young woman shrugging which really infuriated her more. “Are you going to be safe?”

“I’m going with a colleague, his name is Lance and I think he’s capable enough,” She could hear Oksana chewing on the other side of the line.

"Does he have a mustache?" Eve choked on her own saliva, she coughed violently. Eve is going to investigate a violent serial killing, possibly endangering her life by exposing herself and all Oksana could think about was, if the man with her has a mustache? Eve wanted to laugh hysterically.

Failing to hide her mirth, Eve turned her back from her colleagues and walk away from them. “Seriously?”

“Yeah, we both know your type, the bushier the—,”

“You know that it’s you what I want,” Eve cut off her and she felt a slither of satisfaction when she heard Oksana gasp inaudibly.

Heat shot in Eve’s veins when Oksana murmured huskily. “And you know that I want you as well, only you,” Eve could almost feel the palpable heat emanating from Oksana at the other line. She always knew that Oksana wanted her, ever since the first time they met. Oksana recognized Eve's own need for the young woman and even if Eve would deny it, she knew that Oksana would hunt her like prey. They were meant for this…for each other…

“I know…” Eve cleared the huskiness in her throat. She suddenly wished she’s with Oksana now. “I need to go now, darling,” Eve whispered as she risked a glance towards Carolyn.

“Okay…” It felt like the younger woman was about to say something but decided against it. “See you later,”

“Bye,” Eve breathed in a lungful of air to steady her heart before facing Carolyn and Lance. “Let’s go?”

Lance nodded at her and Eve quickly bid her goodbye to her boss. As soon as they got out of the building, she released a sigh of relief because Carolyn’s knowing gaze unnerved her but as she recalled their prior conversation, a mixed feeling of terror and giddiness enveloped her. And she swore that whatever happens, Oksana is worth it.

***

Oksana stared at her phone for a few minutes after hanging up. What in bloody hell was about Eve that she couldn’t help herself? As soon as Oksana saw Eve stepped out of the MI6 building, she straightened from where she was standing. She had a strong gut feeling that Eve would go back to the first scene of the crime. And like most of the killers, they always get a kick when they go back and admire the havoc they created—Oksana knew this so well because she had been one.

If Oksana hadn’t been feeling an uncomfortable twist of sexual frustration, she might have laughed at Eve’s obvious excitement.

She pouted a little as she lowered the baseball cap she was wearing. It felt ridiculous when she recognized that gut-wrenching feeling of jealousy. She heard it from Eve's mouth that she only wants Oksana but her childhood insecurity wouldn't be easily assured. She even asked Eve if that bloody muscle man has a mustache?! She hadn't been in time to stop her stupid mouth from asking that idiotic question. What would Eve think now?

She frowned at her own reflection. It surprised Oksana how possessive and how scared she was to lose Eve. She is Villanelle! An assassin! She faced death more than a hundred times—she doesn’t get scared easily!

When it was safe enough for her to follow the duo, Oksana ducked her head and walked casually behind them. It might be safer for Eve if there is another person who will keep an eye to her back. It’s not considered as stalking her, Oksana convinced herself.

She just wanted to keep Eve safe especially now that she’s free from the clutch of The Twelve. She has all the time in the world to find out what makes Eve tick. With a hint of a smile, Oksana skipped in her step, feeling lighter than ever before. This was the first time that she's looking forward to what future might bring for her.

***

  **A/N:**

**I'm still writing Chapter 5 and you know the drill.**


	4. Hello, I'm delighted to make your acquaintance

“Hello, good morning,” Eve leaned to the reception desk to greet the woman who looked bored manning the front desk at the Paris police station. “May I speak to Detective Jake?”

“About what?” She said without looking at them. Unprofessional, Eve bit back her tongue.

“I'm Eve Polastri, the one who called an hour ago,”

“Oh, from MI6?”

“Yes,” At Eve's confirmation, the woman suddenly straightened her back and looked at her.

“You can go inside the bullpen, just turn left and you'll see him. First cubicle.” The woman smiled at her.

“Thanks,” Eve said as she walked towards the precinct. “”It's amazing what benefits you can reap when you just say the magic word “MI6”,” Eve whispered to Lance who was walking beside her.

“Well, MI6 does sound like a bad ass if you asked me. I always wanted to work with them,”

“It's not all fun.” Eve sidestepped two police officers that were bickering. “I was on the desk job for years before this. What about you?”

“Army. I was stationed at Afghanistan for two years...”

“Oh... Was it really bad there?”

“Worse,” A ghost of sorrow passed through his clear blue eyes. “Death was all around you. Our squad almost didn’t make it.” He was silent for a moment before clearing his throat to continue. “After that mission it got me thinking that I can still help without endangering myself so I didn’t enlist, I tried my luck at MI6 and here I am.” Lance opened the door for her.

The room smells like coffee and cigarette, it was slightly chaotic and the room is half full. Somewhere around the corner was crying, bubbling in a hysterical French accent. Looking around, Eve walked and turned left like what the receptionist said and she saw a man with a mustache and a rumpled blonde hair. Her lips twitched when she remembered Oksana's hilarious question.

“Hi, Detective Jake?”

“Yes?” He was looking sleep deprived but still alert.

“Eve Polastri, from MI6. I need to talk to you about the murder case you caught six months ago,”

“Ms. Polastri, it’s nice to meet you, I’m sorry for looking like shit, I just got out of a bust and I haven’t slept for twenty hours now. Please have a seat,” Jake stood up and took two chairs from the opposite side of his cubicle to offer it to them.

“It's okay I'm sorry that's its all of a sudden,” Eve said as she sat. She noticed how Lance tried to sit slowly at the plastic chair as if afraid that it wouldn't hold his weight down.

“So what can I do for you?”

“Can you tell us about Aki Chen's case?”

“Okay,” He settled down to his chair and faced them. “I got the dispatch around nine-fifty. Someone called the station and gave us a tip that he saw someone lying at the parking lot at _Boulevard de Denain_ ,”

“Who called?” Eve asked as she opened her notebook to take notes.

“The caller refused to give a name but insisted that we need to check it out,”

“How did the caller sounded like? I mean, was he breathless? Scared?”

 Jake’s forehead creased as he tried to recall it. “He sounded breathless, a little… eager? But I’m not sure.” Eve nodded but Lance could almost hear the gears clicking inside the woman’s mind.

“So I geared up and arrive at the scene at ten, I drove by and saw a figure lying on her back, arms and legs sprawled up. Based on preliminary observation, there’s a stab in her abdomen. Her ID and wallet are still intact, clearly not a robbing incident. I canvassed the area but no one saw anything. I looked for CCTV's around the area but she’s just the only one who showed up around the cafes there, no sign that she's with someone. We talked to her family, friends, boyfriend, and ex but no one stood up so my take was it's probably a random incident. There’s a lack of defensive wound but what bugged me the most was that there's an indication that she was probably raped after she was killed.”

“Bloody hell,” Lanced cursed beside her. Eve felt the blood in her face drained a little. They have some real sick bastard to chase.

“Same mate,” Jake shook his head, disgust etched in his face. “The forensics found nothing around the body, the scene. Apparently, the bastard knows what he’s doing, I double checked the morgue this morning just to be sure but they found nothing new. They told me to toss it to cold case files but during my off, I try to work on it, and then some guys from MI6 took the case from me, the rest was history,”

“Tox report?”

Jake shook his head. “Medical declared none. She was pretty fresh when we brought her in so we're sure that if there's some tranquilizer injected in her, it would have flagged up.”

Eve just nodded while she wrote silently, her face betrayed nothing of what she was thinking. “I think we're okay now,” Eve closed her notebook, and put it back to her bag. Confused and a little surprised, Lance stood up with Eve.

“That's it?” Equally confused, Jake clumsily stood up as Eve offered her hands to shake it.

“You've been a great help, thank you.” Still confused, Jake just nodded to them. Lanced shook his hand and bid his goodbye, he quickly followed Eve, afraid that she'll vanish like what Carolyn warned him before.

Eve could see the lights in the window as she silently walked away from the bullpen.

"I thought we're going to the crime scene?" Lance spoke as he followed her.

“No need, It's going to be fruitless to even try,” She could see the receptionist from the corner of her eyes eyeing them but Eve ignored the woman.

“Are you sure? It's not like we discovered something worthwhile,”

"Oh, that's where you're completely wrong," Lance was surprised when Eve chuckled as if thinking a private joke. Lanced suddenly felt like an idiot. It's not like he wasn’t paying attention to the details but he was too busy watching their back.

Lance watched the older woman fished for her phone inside her handbag. He discreetly looked around, there had been a nagging feeling that someone was following them since London but he wasn’t really sure. It might be his instincts or just plain paranoia.

“Hello? Elena? Can you please verify if the other victims were raped after they died...? Yes, all of them...” She was silent for a moment. “Did something come up with your searches? Sorry, sorry... Yes, I discovered something but I need some data to prove it... I know it’s been only three hours... Yes... We'll be going back now... See you,”

“Did Detective Jake's statement really helped?” Lance asked after she placed back her phone in her bag.

“Yes, if my predictions are accurate, Aki Chen is the key.”

The bulked of a man eyed her. “It's amazing how you can see from the eyes of a killer,”

“I'll take that as a compliment,” Niko often pointed that out it the past and It irked her how Niko always sounded...disappointed.

“It is a compliment but it makes me wonder how can you sleep at night, have a normal relationship with that kind of mind.” He knew he was toeing a line but talking about murders made him think that they’re past the niceties now. “Does your husband know what you’re working now?” He asked while they walked side by side.

“I'm already divorced,” Eve said quietly as she looked left and right before crossing the pedestrian line.

“Ah, that was shitty for me to say. I’m sorry,”

“Don’t worry about it. I was actually the one who wanted it,” Thinking about it, it felt like their divorce was inevitable.

“Oh... So you're single?” A hint of eagerness leaked in his voice but it seems that Eve didn’t notice it.

“Not really? I'm not...emotionally available at the moment,” It was really true, it’s not like Oksana and Eve are already in a relationship. They’re still navigating around their unconventional relationship and its baggage that came with it.

“Ah but—OUCH!!” He groaned painfully when he felt someone elbowed his back. He irritatingly looked back to catch whoever that is. He didn’t notice anyone but he said in no one particular. “Someone was trying to mind their own business here! Fucking jerks,”

Eve just glanced at him disapprovingly. “Let’s go back, they’re waiting for us.”

Lance nodded, a little disappointed that their conversation got cut.

***

It was already five thirty in the afternoon as they arrived at the MI6. Eve did nothing but write at her notebook leaving Lance in his own thoughts. They just bought some sandwiches along the way and it gave Lance an impression that Eve breathed and live this kind of work. No wonder Carolyn likes her so much.

He asked what she found out but Eve brushed him off, telling him that it'll be easier if she just briefed them all at once at the headquarters. The mousy haired woman really surprised him a lot. She’s sharp, intuitive and a little...obsesses. He remembered Carolyn words, Villanelle, the assassin that got obsesses with the woman. Well, Eve would be a great adversary for a deadly assassin.

Something in his instinct flashed, he quickly looked back, ran his gaze around the crowd. Fuck, he can’t help but feel paranoid.

“What are you doing?” Eve called out to him, impatience etched to her face.

“Nothing,” He denied it, no need to alarm Eve especially if it was just his paranoia nagging him.

“Come on now,” Eve resumed walking, she opened the doors and strode inside with a purpose.

The sun is starting to set and the hall around them glowed in a melancholic orange color. A few people milled around them, some of them were carrying bags, clearly clocking out of work to go home. Eve steps faltered when she remembered that she had someone to home now. She thought of Oksana and she wonders what she was doing.

“Eve?” Lance called out on her, he was holding the door open from the conference room for her.

“Yes, sorry I just remembered something,” Maybe she could go home early and buy some take outs for them. Oksana would love the domesticity of it.

"Eve," Carolyn called out to her as she placed her bag at one of the chairs in the conference room. “I assume you discovered something?”

“Yes,” She walked towards Kenny who was hunched in front of the computer. “Did you found out something?”

Kenny shook his head as he reached for the bottled water beside him. “Europe is a big place, Eve.”

"I agree, try focusing on Paris," When Kenny raised his head, his facial expression full of question.

“Elena? Did you found out what I asked for?”

“Yes, I called the Detectives that were handling the cases personally and they confirmed that they were raped prior their time of death.”

“That's good,” She murmured to herself.

"Eve, can you tell us what did you learned?”

“Ah, yes I'm sorry.” Eve ran her fingers through her already unruly hair, looking around, she walked towards her bag and took her personal notebook. “You see, we were right about the first victim being the key.” She sat down and everyone followed her at the table except Kenny who turned around from where he was facing.

“I think that Aki's death was an impulsive decision.”

“What do you mean?”

“Something pushed him to kill her, but I assure you this wasn’t his first. She was raped after her death, another impulsive decision which tells a lot of his personality. He's a sociopath although patient, controlled but he is prone to temper. He's a coward because he raped Aki after her death, he's been rejected before and he can’t handle rejection well.”

“Maybe an Asian woman rejected him,” Lance offered.

"Low probability, you saw his works—he didn't mutilate them. He didn’t despise them, the only escalation I noticed so far was he started raping these women before killing them. It's a new kind of power to him. He murdered them and he can get away with it.”

“We need to check the other victims if they were drugged, and what kind of drugs? It’s another string to tug,” Elena nodded to her.

“So he's not done?” Carolyn asked in a cold voice.

“No, he might escalate now that he had our attention.”

“Our attention?” Elena asked her.

“After the first death, he quickly called the police.”

“You mean the tip?” Lance said in awe.

“Yes, he can’t wait for them to discover the body so he had to call the law enforcement. The body was still fresh, like what Detective Jake told us. He badly wants attention but I don’t get why he wasn’t bragging about it. He never claimed it publicly.”

“Maybe the attention he wants isn’t the public but...”

“Us?” Eve countered. “Why?”

“For a duel?” Carolyn suggested. “A battle of wits?”

“That's a possibility,” Elena agreed to Carolyn. “It might be Villanelle,”

“She isn’t a rapist, Elena. Christ, you have seen her, can you imagine her being rejected? We all know how Villanelle can charm and manipulate anyone with that face of hers, she didn’t have to rape,” Eve irritatingly snapped at her. Villanelle's profile doesn't fit any of these but people kept blaming her and she's starting to get pissed.

Elena raised her hand and bit back the joke she was supposed to say. Eve clearly wasn’t in the mood for it. “Sorry, I was just trying to be helpful,”

Eve sighed before rubbing her face with her palms. “I'm sorry too, Elena. That was unprofessional of me,”

“Why us?” Carolyn mused loudly, ignoring them.

“If that was true then he might escalate again,” Eve said to Carolyn.

“Why?”

Eve faced Lance to answer him. “If it was really us that he wants attention, he's looking for a battle of wits. He's going to taunt us, play with us and he’s going to kill another one unless we found something that could connect him to Aki. He won’t stop with five women until we play his game and caught him,” A grim silence enveloped the room at Eve’s words.

“That’s so bloody fucked up,” Brent said.

“Well, everything about this case is fucked up, buddy,” Everyone agreed with him.

“Did you notice something at the train station?” Carolyn asked him.

“The thing is there are too many Asian women resides her in London and I can't possibly follow them all at once. So what I did was I canvassed the area around the station, I checked it if there was a possibility of it being used by the perp. I found some abandoned lots which don't have CCTV's. I suggest that we could place a few police officers there, just to scare him off from murdering another woman." Carolyn nodded at him.

“That’s good, I’ll place a few phone calls but I suggest you resume staying there and follow the same order. An officer in civilian clothes will relieve you at night in the train station,” Brent nodded, pleased with Carolyn’s praise.

“Elena, same order, compile everything about Aki Chen so we can check it tomorrow with fresh mind and eyes. Kenny continue with your search but focus at Paris,”

“Eve?” But the woman wasn’t listening to them.

“How did he isolate them? How did he grab them? Elena?” Eve muttered to herself.

“Y-Yes?”

"Search for anyone that is related to Aki that has a connection to medical or military fields. Her doctor, a friend, a colleague, anyone that has connections with her.” Eve raised her pen and bit it, her mind racing. “Why us? What did we do?”

“Eve? Go home and take a rest, come back tomorrow. We’re starting to draw some blanks here,” Eve released a frustrated sigh. Carolyn was right, it's not like she could solve this case in twenty-four hours.

“All right,” Everyone around her started to pull their chairs and gather their things. Eve closed her notebook and she now noticed how her temple was slightly throbbing in pain. It seems that she badly needed to relax if she wants to be any help tomorrow.  Eve thought of Oksana, they could watch some movies and talk a little about what they found out. Maybe she’ll buy some pizza for them to share. Thinking about the younger woman, somewhat made her headache a little better.

“Uh… Eve?” Lance stood beside her. Elena curiously looked at them.

“Yes?” Eve replied without glancing at him. She wondered if Oksana likes a meat lover’s pizza, it would be a great pair with red wine.

“You want me to take you home?” Eve’s movements faltered at his words and finally, she raised her eyes to meet his.

“Are you asking if you can take me home?” His cheeks slightly reddened when she repeated his question. He nodded, suddenly aware that the people around them were trying not to be obvious at their interest in the situation.

“I-I’m sorry, Lance… but I can take care of myself, and it’s not like I would linger outside the station now that I know that’s there’s a serial killer on the loose… I mean, that is what you mean right?” Eve smiled awkwardly.

“Not really?” Lance suddenly felt his collar tighten a little. “I mean, we could have a dinner or something?”

“I’m really sorry, Lance,” Eve was embarrassed now. Jesus, she was trying to let him down gently by pretending that she didn’t get what he really means. “I’m not available, I’m… I’m…” She has to say it or Oksana would get batshit crazy if she discovered that someone besides her was showing interest at her. “I’m dating someone,”

"Oh…" Like a deflated balloon, Lance's shoulder slumped.

“What? Who?” Elena suddenly appeared beside her, demanding some answers. Eve’s eyes caught Carolyn’s raised eyebrow. Crap, if this continues, she’ll be caught or Oksana will.

“It’s not someone you know, okay?” Eve quickly yanked her bag from the chair and she placed her things in it, not minding if she looks agitated. God, she’s never been good at hiding things. “B-Besides, It’s new, it won’t probably last long??”

“Is that a question? Why are you asking me?” Elena retorted back.

“I’m not asking you! I’m telling you!” Eve avoided Elena’s suspicious look. “I’ll be going now,” Taking her bag, Eve hastily carried it to her shoulders.

“Hot date?” Elena snorted at Carolyn’s mocking question. Instead of responding, Eve threw a scowl at Lance, she would love to kick the man’s balls for putting her in this situation.

“Yeah, with a pizza and goddamn red wine,” Eve strode out of the room, she wanted to sulk a little when she heard Elena cackled behind her. She pulled on her coat to shield herself from the cold wind of autumn. The sun has already set but people were still mingling outside the MI6 building. She ignored the pedestrians thronging around the crosswalks and kept her head down. She should have brought a cap to hide her hair, she thought to herself. At least, it'll give her time to hide her Asian features. 

Eve crossed the road and readied her train card as she walked down the escalator inside the train. She avoided eye contact, pretended to be busy but in fact, self-conscious if someone was following her. Eve released a sigh of relief as she sat inside the train. It seems that she’ll have to watch her back now that she’s handling this case.

After a few minutes, the train stopped and Eve quickly shuffled out of the train. Making her way through her usual favorite pizza place, the older woman took off her phone from the bag to call Oksana. After a moment of ringing, the young woman answered. The wind chimes at the door echoed as Eve opened the door of the pizza place. She nodded at the woman in the countered and gestured to wait for her.

 “Yes, my dear?” Eve’s lips automatically grinned at Oksana’s playful voice.

“How about meat lover’s pizza for dinner?” It would be a comfort for both of them.

“It's my favorite," It was murmured gently, Eve almost didn't hear it.

“Okay, hold on for a sec,” Eve turned to the woman at the counter and ordered up one family size pizza. As she paid for it, Eve turned back from the counter and chooses a chair to sit.

"Where are you?" Eve could hear car horns and chatter at the other line of the phone.

“Eh, here and there,” She answered, slightly breathless. “I bought a few clothes for us and did some groceries, I can’t believe you don’t have some stocks in your fridge, darling.”

“I’ve been alone for quite a while now, mind you,” She admitted as she rested her chin at her right palm as she stared out of the window of the pizza shop.

“Aren’t you lonely?” Oksana’s accent changed into Russian, her voice was smooth as a cream.

Eve thought about what happened in Paris a lot that she lost count of how many time it was. It felt long… she felt hollow as she performed mundane tasks day by day, trying to live—trying to get over the fact that it was her hands that killed Oksana.

“Yes… I thought I killed you,” It was futile to deny it, she spent months of denying it to herself and now that Oksana’s back, what good it would do if she did?

“You didn’t,” There was a finality in it and it made Eve sagged with relief because she didn’t know what would she do if she really did kill her. “Do you think death could get you out of this relationship?”

A bubble of laughter erupted at Eve and it surprised her how easy it was when it comes to them. “I guess I’m stuck with you,” She said in a wistful voice.

“Darn right you are, wait I think I saw you, I'm gonna pick you up,”

Eve's pulse jumped at Oksana's words and like a hound with a scent to sniff, she craned her neck at the window to catch Oksana.

She’s taken off her coat and it was nowhere to be found. She was still wearing denim jeans and a black converse but she changed into a black V-neck shirt and a baseball cap hiding those golden curls. Her eyes were green, bright green despite the gleaming crimson of sunset around her and there was something... Just something about her eyes that always grabbed her in the heart. Eve could look at her for hours and marvel at how on earth this stunning and complex woman belongs to her.

Oksana raised a hand and wave at her, smiling tenderly and it felt like a gut punch and it's insane how this woman made her feel a lot of things. Even with her normal get up, Oksana was still a head turner, some men were trying to catch her attention, and a few women looked at her with envy as she walked with ease and confidence like a cat in a jungle.

“Hi,” Her Russian accent firmly in place as she purred, Oksana pulled a chair opposite of the older woman and sat with confidence. Eve flicked a glance at Oksana's lips, suddenly wanted to kiss her, to claim her in front of the people that were trying to get the young woman's attention.

Perhaps Eve's desire reflected in her face because she saw Oksana's eyes dilate and turned into dark green before she brushed her lips into Eve's. Her eyes fluttered closed and Eve could feel a ghost of breath as Oksana lingered to her lips. 

“This is okay, right?” It was murmured softly Eve almost didn’t hear it.

“Hmmm?”

Oksana chuckled as she skimmed her fingers over Eve’s unruly hair that always drove her mad. “I mean is it okay for me to kiss you?”

“Of course, why wouldn’t it be okay?” Her voice was husky, thick with need. God, it was just a kiss.

“I don’t know... I don’t want to push you too hard and bolt...”

Startled at her revelation, Eve leaned back to watch the younger woman's face. “I won’t,”

A flash of insecurity rippled at Oksana’s face and before she could hide it, Eve cupped Oksana's cheek and held her gaze firmly to hers. "I'm not running away from this, Oksana,”

“Promise?” She understood the underlying meaning of her question and everything it stands for. Eve’s heart ached and for the first time since she stabbed Oksana, she saw a glimpsed of the unloved child that was hiding under.

“I promised,” The raw anxiety on Oksana’s face undid Eve as she whispered passionately what the young woman wanted to hear.

Oksana’s emotions welled up, threatening to fill her chest to bursting. It infuriated her again to admit, to know how Eve could easily shatter her heart. How Eve could take her back to the point of vulnerability that she had escaped from. “You better keep that promise,” The soft gentle accent that came into Oksana’s voice weakened Eve.

As Eve held her gaze to meet hers but it still didn’t prepare Eve for the kiss. The way Oksana’s mouth closed firmly over hers, the way her heart pulsated inside her chest, that wistful longing she had been controlling since the day Eve laid her eyes Oksana. Eve let herself be held, let Oksana’s hand cup her nape as she slowly devoured her already swollen lips.

Oksana could feel her control slipping, it was so easy to lose herself at Eve and it baffled her how her whole body was eager for it but this wasn't the right time to do it. Eve still wasn't ready and they still have so many things to talk about. Oksana bit down Eve's lower lips, none too gently to silently convey how frustrated she was and the animal inside her reveled when Eve moaned. It would be so fucking easy to bed her but that wasn't what Oksana wants now. She wants Eve not just her body but also her soul. She needed Eve more than she needed anything.

She released her lips and Oksana rested her forehead to Eve’s, both of them slightly panting, “Besides, we haven’t had sex, I only want you for sex,” Eve’s eyes danced with pleasure when Oksana threw her head back and hooted with unrestrained laughter.

“And here I thought you only want me for my money,” The shadows behind Oksana’s green eyes cleared, her green-golden eyes now sparkling with mirth.

“Nah,” Eve relished the glee that she caused, her eyes running at Oksana’s pleased expression. “I believed you promised me sex,”

“Yeah, before you stabbed me,”

“Oh, come on, will you ever let that go?” Oksana grinned but she shook her head, unquestionably trying to annoy her. “Fuck you,” Eve rolled her eyes at her and playfully shoved Oksana away from her.

“You should fuck me yourself, Eve,” She groaned loudly in embarrassment when the cashier suddenly appeared beside them with a pizza box in hand and cleared her throat awkwardly at Oksana’s words.

***

Finally, finally… the moment he’d been waiting for has finally arrived. She finally noticed me, his hands shook as he splashed cold water on his face. He has finally done something significant that deserved her attention.

He leaned in the sink, staring at his trembling hands, trying to quell the excitement in his gut. He felt his cock twitch when he remembered how she beautiful she looked.

He didn’t plan to kill Aki… he likes her… but when she laughed at her, something feral inside him snapped. The next thing he knew, he was holding a scalpel, buried deep inside her stomach. He was shocked but… as he stared at his bloodied hands, as he inhaled the rusty smell of blood—it felt like a sign to him.  A sign that there was something bigger planned for him rather than… this.

A slither of satisfaction etched his handsome face as he remembered them all. Women are easy preys, they are all can be deceived by his appearance, but she was different. God… the moment he laid his eyes on her she always knew she was exquisite—only made for him. Oh, how he longed to bury his hands to those thick hair and make her kneel in front of him… to make her only his.

This was all for her… though he doubted himself so many times, nearly lost his courage and focus but this… their deaths were all worth it. 

A mad smile flitted in his face as he stared at his reflection. This is his tribute for her and now that she finally got her attention, she’ll know that he exists. Someone who admires, respects and understands her above all others.

That woman?

She is not worthy of her, he said to himself. He nearly strangled the woman when he saw them kiss. He wanted to kill her, to rip her throat, to slash her—he breathed in a shaky breath. He couldn’t afford to lose control, he has plans… and now, she would be his last and he would very much enjoy every minute of it.

***

**A/N:**

**A first glimpse of our villain. Next, a whole Chapter of fluff. You guys kind of need it coz it'll be one hell of a ride once I unleashed our fave psychopath! As usual, i'm still writing chapter 6, you know the drill.**


	5. Soft Assassin

If The Twelve could see Oksana now, they might have questioned their decision to employ her back then. She was curled around Eve’s side, eyes fluttering in pure bliss as the older woman’s hand plays with her hair. Their favorite assassin very much looked like a cat that ate its canary. 

After picking up Eve at the pizza place, they walked home together. It might be a little cold for her taste but as Eve’s hand wrapped around her arm, it was adequate to warm her soul. Back then, when she was still at the peak of her _career,_ she thought that dating someone would tie her down. Thinking about it puts her off, the revulsion of spending your days with the same person again and again, and again was enough to elude relationships like a plague. But now…

“Are you full?” Eve asked her, hands still combing Oksana’s hair. The young woman nodded, her eyes blearily focused at the television.

“Did you like the clothes I bought for you?” Oksana’s voice slightly husky, her accent drifted clearly as she spoke.

Eve smiled dreamily, her eyes staring blankly at the TV in front of them, her focus solely at the woman in her lap. “Yes,” She responded truthfully. It might not be her usual choice of clothes to wear every day but the thought that it was a gift from Oksana was enough for her to overlook it. Eve was quite taken back when she saw the clothes—thinking that the young woman might have projected her longing to wear flamboyant wardrobes but as she saw it, she secretly sighed in relief. The clothes were still around her preferred colors, dark and practical but the quality of it was obvious.

“Good,” Eve’s brow creased when she felt the woman tensed under her hand.

“Is there something wrong?” Eve held her shoulder, encouraging her to talk. The woman was motionless for a moment but she slowly rolled to face her. Eve could see uneasiness in her eyes. She reached out to touch Oksana’s brows, rubbing it with her thumb. “You can tell me anything,” She gently nudged the young woman.

“Can you do me a favor?” Her smile was a little crooked, nervous but there’s a hopeful glint in those golden orbs.

“What kind of favor?”

“Can you get rid some of your clothes?”  Eve’s eyes widened at Oksana’s implication and her jaw dropped open. It’s not like she doesn’t want to have sex with the young woman but they still have so many things to settle, like their sleeping arrangement, is she going to stay now with Eve for good? Are they dating now? Are they girlfriends? God, girlfriends sounded so explicit for her age and she hasn’t shaved her legs yet!

Panic must have shown in her face and before she could reply, Oksana suddenly sat, nearly bumping her forehead to Eve's chin.

“It’s okay, it’s not like I’m forcing you to throw some of the clothes Niko bought you, and it’s good if you don’t want to. It’s all right, I’m good,”

"Oh, I-I thought y-you want to have… oh," Oksana gave her a confused look and Eve could swear the moment that Oksana finally got what she meant, a familiar mad glee flashed in those golden-green orbs.

“Well, we can also do that if you want to,” Eve’s face reddened at Oksana’s teasing voice.

“No!”

Oksana pouted. “Okay, no need to hurt my feelings,”

Eve groaned helplessly, suddenly at lost. “I’m not saying no to sex but there are a lot of things we haven’t talked about. What are your plans? Are you going to stay for good? Are you going to live here?  What are we doing? Things like that,”

Oksana looked pensive for a while and it made Eve a little nervous. She knew she was asking for too much but… "I'm going to stay with you from now on and live wherever you want. My plans include making you happy, making sure that you'll always like me. And Eve," The older woman swallowed hard when Oksana's face hovered close to her. "I believe we're having a romantic relationship,"

Eve chuckled before stealing a kiss to her lips. “Thank you for clarifying that Einstein,” She leaned back at the sofa to regard the young woman completely. “So are we girlfriends? God, that sounded so awful in my age,”   

“Yep, because I think marriage would be a little too soon for you?” At Eve’s laughter, Oksana grumpily pouted, slightly offended at Eve’s amusement. “Would you please stop breaking my heart?”

Marriage. Eve felt a little light-headed at Oksana’s insinuation. Jesus, she just got divorced. Ignoring her, Eve patted her hand. “You know what I meant, but just to be sure. You’re my girlfriend right?”

“Yes, and you’re my girlfriend,” The young woman grasped Eve’s hand and linked their fingers.

“Oksana, I know that maybe you’re used to something different… something more open in terms of relationship but…” Eve cleared her throat before holding Oksana’s golden eyes to hers. She needed to clarify this because this is something that she wants in a relationship. “I want a monogamous relationship and it’s something I expect from my other half,”

“Other half,” Oksana pondered, a soft smile slowly crept to her lips. “I like that,” Still holding her gaze, Eve waited for her. “You don’t have to worry, you’re the only one I want but I should warn you that I’m also not very good at sharing, especially you.” Heat bloomed inside Eve’s gut at Oksana’s blatant declaration of devotion to her. She suddenly remembered Lance invitation and she grimaced.

“What? Did you already cheat on me?” Oksana’s face was completely aghast, a little too realistic for her taste.

“It’s not like that,” Eve gave her a pointed look. She hesitated if she should be telling this to the young assassin particularly after declaring that she isn’t up for sharing her girlfriend. “Lance asked me for a date,” Eve waited for a blowup but to her surprise, Oksana remained silent.

“What did you said?” Oksana's voice was gentle, mildly… deceptive. She didn't want to slide into her mask of a cold-hearted assassin but the young woman had no choice.

She clearly heard the interest in Lance's voice earlier when he discovered that Eve recently divorced Niko. It pleased the assassin when Eve didn’t notice his eagerness but when the older woman didn’t outright admit that she has someone in her life now, it displeased Oksana. She imagined a lot of ways how she would love to kill the man but in the end, she settled at elbowing him at his kidney, Oksana kind of wished she could see his now blooming bruises. Progress right? At least she didn’t murder the guy. Eve would be proud, she bet.

“I turned him down,” The older woman eyed Oksana with slight suspicion. 

“Good, he will live another day,” The assassin answered casually as if she’s not planning the death of the man in her mind.

A little disappointed at Oksana's reaction, Eve requested. “You’re not allowed to kill any of them, okay?”

The young assassin pretended to be shocked at Eve's warning, made a face at her. “I would never!”

Eve just raised an eyebrow to her and remained silent. “Make sure of it,”

Oksana shrugged but she didn’t promise anything to her. At least Eve didn’t make her promise not to hurt him. In Oksana's perception, that was a win for her. Especially for Lance.

***

“Sooo…”

“Yes?”

“Can you get rid of the clothes that your ex-husband bought you?” Eve turned around from the bed she was fixing and smirked at her.

“Why? Does it bother you?”

“Yes, I don’t like it when you wear clothes that he bought,” It was answered with honesty, it made Eve a little gooey inside. She's in middle age for Christ sake, not in middle school. “You look ugly in it, he doesn’t have taste in clothes.”

“Hey!” She cried out, a little offended at Oksana's words.

“What? It's true, I know what clothes suits you. And I don't want you to wear clothes that other people gave you, you’re mine now,” Eve's body reacted at Oksana's unadulterated possessiveness to her. She shouldn't be but the way it rolled over Oksana's tongue with a Russian accent was pure sin.

“Okay,” Eve almost laughed at out loud at Oksana's pure glee. The young assassin quickly leaped towards her closet to rummage it.

“Tell me which is it, so I could burn it,”

Whoa, okay. That was a little too much, she thought. Sometimes Eve forgets that she's in a relationship with a psychopath. “Or we could just… you know... Donate it?”

“What?!” Oksana looked at her like she’s gone crazy which is kinda hilarious because she's not the one who suggested incinerating clothes that Niko bought for her. “Have you seen those clothes? It was abominable! Do you think someone would willingly wear those?”

“Hey!”

Oksana faced again the closet, ignoring her. “I bet he annoyed you to wear it, flattered you to death. Good thing you're already beautiful even wearing those revolting clothes. Nope, we're going to burn them, no need to let other people suffer the same fate as yours,”

Eve just raised her hands in defeat and joined her. She might as well help her before Oksana decided to burn down her whole closet. At least she could get some good clothes out of it, she thought.

***

“You should also put your clothes in here,” Eve didn’t notice how Oksana stood still at her words. She kept folding her new clothes, arranging them neatly in the drawers. Her lips twitched when she collected her new underwear, Jesus, the young woman wasn't kidding about clothes—it looked like Oksana bought a whole array of clothes from a boutique!

Eve shoved her own clothes aside, leaving space for Oksana's clothes. "Where's yours?" As Eve turned her head, she saw Oksana with a… torn expression.  “Oksana?”

“Here,” Her Russian accent was rough with emotion as she handed all of her clothes. Oksana rarely let herself feel… strong emotions. A twinge perhaps but hardly enough to stagger her… but as she passed her attires to Eve and watched the older woman arrange it to her own side, she felt like a hand was squeezing her heart. She finally has somewhere to belong and it’s making her feel a lot of things Oksana couldn’t identify.

Eve reached out for a strand of the young woman’s honey-blonde hair and tucked it behind her ears. She could sense Oksana’s inner turmoil, it must be how they’re finally together, or the act of falling together, intertwining their lives that triggered it. Eve wanted to soothe the young woman’s aching loneliness, if she could only just reach it, her light—to bathe Oksana’s darkness to appease her demons.

“You saved me, Eve,” Oksana reached for Eve’s hand that was caressing her cheeks and urged Eve to look deeply to her eyes. “What I feel for you? What we are together saved me,”

Eve blinked away the unshed in her eyes and swallowed hard. Eve moistened her lips before speaking. “We saved each other, Oksana,” Eve kept her eyes on Oksana as she kissed her.

***

Eve turned to her in the middle of the night, sluggishly rolling to nestle on Oksana’s chest. Now that they finally had a label, they decided to start sleeping together in one bed. If it wasn’t for Eve’s obvious nervousness, she might have railed her a little. When the older woman admitted that she hadn't been with a woman, the animal inside her stirred and it made Eve more delectable in Oksana's eyes. She reigned in her desire as Eve accidentally brushed her chest. God, she was never been good at being patient, she crabbily thought.

Her senses heightened when Oksana heard the familiar groan from Eve, she's going to have a nightmare. Oksana knew about it. She discovered it the first time she broke into Eve's house to see her and it shattered the assassin when she realized that Eve must be having an incessant nightmare about their stabbing incident. Eve must have racked with guilt and pain that it started to project into her dreams and it took everything in Oksana to stop herself from revealing herself to Eve.

Oksana wrapped her arms around Eve and she buried her face into her unruly hair. “I’m here, baby. I’m here,” She murmured, hoping that it’ll reach Eve consciousness. The older woman shuddered but eventually, stopped moaning, Oksana waited, her fingers leisurely running in Eve's hair as she stared at the darkness. She laid beside Eve, listening to her breathe as she tries to settle her raging thoughts.

Nothing had been the same for Oksana since Eve walked into her life. She was contented… she had everything… Oksana wasn’t unhappy but she knew there was an empty space inside her. She didn’t mind, and the truth was, she accepted that the hollow void inside her would always be there. It has always been there since she was a child. But when Eve came everything changed, and for the first time in Oksana’s adult life—she was at lost… aching to identify what she was feeling, and it lovingly wrenched Oksana’s perfectly crafted world.

Beside her, Eve finally released a deep breath, an indication that she's finally settling down in her sleep. Oksana gently pulled the blanket up to wrap around them. She pulled Eve further to her chest and she intertwined their legs to warm up Eve. Oksana could feel herself slowly relaxing, her eyes getting heavier with Eve’s every breath. Oksana ran her gaze to Eve’s peaceful slumber before succumbing into her drowsiness.

***

Eve woke up in a smell of bacon, at first, she was sleepily blinking, reaching for the body that was supposed to be beside her. Realizing that Oksana already up, she reached for the young woman’s pillow and buried her face at it. It felt so long since the last time she slept undisturbed. She has always been a restless sleeper, which always kept her at night but with Oksana, a part of her felt protected… safe and it made her want to laugh. The last time they stayed in the same bed, Eve stabbed her.

Chuckling at her thoughts, Eve raised her head from where she buried it. Oksana must be cooking, she said to herself as she sniffed. She rolled off the bed, leaving the bed as it was as she proceeded to find her girlfriend.

“Good morning, darling!” Oksana greeted eagerly. The young woman quickly abandoned what she was doing to make her way towards Eve. She kissed Eve sweetly which made Eve wrapped her arms around Oksana’s neck. She could feel the young woman smirk under her lips while Eve continued to steal kisses from her.

“Someone’s in a good mood,” Oksana smirked smugly as she watched Eve detach herself from her.

"I had a good night sleep," Eve sidestepped her to get coffee for them. It seems that everything is almost finished as she inspected the dining table. Omelet, bacon, toasts, and honey were already at the table.

“Thanks to me,” The older woman only rolled her eyes at the grinning assassin as Eve poured coffee to their new “couple mugs” that Oksana proudly presented to her last night. The young woman insisted that they should have their own because she overheard a newlywed couple buying theirs. Who couldn’t resist that mushy smile and expectant golden eyes? Not her. Eve was just a human… a whipped human to be exact.

"We haven't talked about what you discovered," Eve said as she sat. She gestured Oksana to sit beside her which brightened the young woman's face. It's not really hard to make Oksana happy, she thought as she reached for the omelet to offer it to Oksana.

Squirming in her seat, full of energy, Oksana waited for Eve to finish placing portions of food in her plate. “I didn’t have time to investigate yesterday, I was busy shopping things for us,” She answered as she shoveled food in her mouth.

An amused smiled etched in Eve’s lips as she watched Oksana devour her food with a childlike hunger and she wondered if Oksana has the same appetite in sex. _Christ._ Eve quickly sipped her coffee, grimacing when it scalded her tongue.

Eve cleared her throat to wash away her filthy thoughts. “You were right about the first victim. She was raped after she died,”

With a mouth full of food, Oksana made a disgusted face. “EW! I’m eating for god sake!” Eve snorted at her reply. The woman murdered a lot of people, most of the times with flair, some with cruelty, and some with efficiency and it was ridiculous to watch Oksana's reaction to her news.

"Oh come on, it's not like you haven't killed anyone," Oksana tried to glare at her but she ended up looking like a chipmunk, cheeks full of food which reduced the threat of it.

Eve took a toast and started to eat, waiting for Oksana to swallow. The young woman was still chewing when she retorted, “But I’m not a rapist, ugh, and it’s not fun to have sex with a dead person,”

“Why did it sound like you tried it?”                                   

“You know what I mean!” Eve chuckled at her indignation.

“After Aki, he started raping his next victims prior to their deaths. He escalated after Aki.” Eve sipped her coffee, broke a piece of toast and bit it.

"No defensive wounds right? He might have drugged your victims," Oksana took a piece of bacon from her plate and she shoveled it to her mouth with her fingers.

“I think so too, we currently have no leads but a lot of strings to tug,” Eve absentmindedly reached for Oksana’s mouth to wipe away the grease from her lips with her thumb. “We’ll run again Aki’s acquaintances to see if there’s someone who has knowledge in a medical or military field connected to her.”

“So legwork for the whole day?” When Eve nodded, Oksana made a face.

“Boooring,” The assassin said as she took another bacon to wolf down.

“We started a search for stab wound attacks around Paris,”

"That's a long reach, there's a lot of stab wound attacks that weren't even reported. Besides, it's a common crime. It’ll be a waste of time to do it,” Oksana swallowed a mouthful of coffee.

“At least it’ll eliminate some possibilities,” The young woman only shrugged at her before taking another toast. “Why did you think he raped Aki?”

“Because he discovered he can,” At Eve’s confusion, Oksana elaborated. “I can only guess that he didn’t kill her on the dumping site, she was killed somewhere else. Her death must be an impulsive decision, even raping her. He found out that he can, so he did,” Eve nodded, it made sense.

“There’s a high possibility that he’ll strike again now that he has our attention,” At Eve’s words, Oksana stiffened.

“What do you mean?” Oksana muttered, eyes cold as she stared at Eve.

Eve swallowed, suddenly terrified at the swift change of the assassin's demeanor. "I believe that he wants our attention, we still don't know why but like what you said, the locations of the dumping site have correlations—they're moving towards here. He hasn't struck here, he was waiting for something and we’re figuring out why,”

They both stared at each other, silent, Eve mostly trying to gauge Oksana’s shift of mood.

“I’m not going to be alone, Lance will always be with me—“

“And why does the thought of it doesn’t comfort me at all?” Oksana lifted an eyebrow at her, eyes more gold than green.

“Look, Oksana,” Eve cleared the sudden lump in her throat before reaching for the Oksana’s hand. “It’s not like he’s going to target me, we have a whole team. I’m not stupid enough to endanger myself and I know how to defend myself, I stabbed you remember?” She tried to joke.

“Ha, ha, very funny,” Oksana said sarcastically. Eve could see Oksana’s hand paled as she clenched her fist, clearly trying to reign in her fury. “Have you forgotten that you tracked my apartment and you broke in, ALONE, trashed it and it didn’t even occur to you that I can kill you?! Is that how you protect yourself?!”

“Because I know that you won’t hurt me, okay?!” Eve inhaled a lungful of air, trying not to let her temper get ahead of her. She knew why Oksana was angry, she was worried sick for her safety. “I tracked you because I wanted to see you, I can’t help myself. There was something about you that was driving me crazy with need… with want. You are everything I shouldn’t have, shouldn’t want or need. For fuck sake, an assassin? But the moment our eyes met, everything inside me that was missing, you filled it. I couldn’t stop myself and I wouldn’t because it was everything that I was looking for.”

Oksana gritted her teeth in frustration and her chest heaved with emotions. Eve saw her struggle and she saw how Oksana's eyes softened gradually to her tirade. The older woman scooted towards Oksana and she laid her forehead to hers to stare deeply at those golden-green orbs. She could see the storm of emotions swirling inside Oksana’s irises and Eve’s heart burst at the thought that she was the only one who can bring thousands of emotions in it. “I’m not going to do anything stupid to jeopardize this, Oksana.” She whispered and she saw how the remaining worry ebbed from Oksana’s face.

“You better or I’m really going to kill you this time,” Eve chuckled at her sullen response.

Now that they finally avoided the storm, Eve joked. “I honestly thought that you were jealous at the attention I’m giving to this serial killer,”

“As long as he doesn’t have a mustache, there won’t be any competition,” Eve howled in laughter. God, how can this woman think that there might be a competition after everything that she spilled?

“God, you’re hilarious,” Eve chuckled, her forehead wrinkled when she smelled something… burning. "What's that smell??" The older woman quickly looked around for the source of the smell. 

“OH? That is your old clothes, I’m burning it,” Oksana casually shrugged as if it wasn’t a big deal.

“You’re actually serious last night?” Eve exclaimed.

“Of course, DUH,” Oksana answered like it was the obvious thing in the world. Eve just released a sigh as she reached for bacon and she wondered how on earth she would be interested at other people when Oksana acts like this.

***

**A/N:**

**Sorry for the lack of interaction in this chapter but you know how everything runs in the books. Calm before the storm.**

**I’m done with chapter six and I’ll post it after writing chapter seven! Is someone still reading this fic? lol**


	6. A Gift from your Deadly Admirer

“Wow, someone’s looking good,” Elena welcomed her as she placed her bag to one of the chairs in the conference room. Suddenly self-conscious, Eve tugged her black coat to hide her blue powder long sleeves. Oksana was the one who selected her outfit while she was taking a shower. Out of all the clothes that Oksana bought for her, this must be one of the tamest and most practical. It suited Eve’s personality well, which Oksana was aiming for.

The effect of the clothes was instantaneous, desire shimmered inside those golden irises as Oksana cupped her chin to kiss her voraciously. The thought of Eve wearing the clothes that she bought was enough to stir the dark possessiveness that the young woman was holding back and it made Eve squirmed frustratingly if the same hunger of Oksana also applies in bed. Is it possible to die during orgasm? Eve contemplated as she settled her humming blood. At least it would be a good way to go, Eve consoled herself.

“Is this what I think is it??” Elena caressed the sleeve of her clothes as if it was made of gold.

“It’s just bargain, don’t drool on it,” Eve chuckled when Elena glared at her.

“Bargain my arse, this must cost a fortune,” Eve only shrugged and to be honest, she has no idea how much her wardrobe costs and she didn’t really want to probe into it. Knowing her girlfriend and her flair for loud outfits, the price must be ludicrous.  

“Good morning, Kenny,” Eve greeted the man who was inclined towards the computer.

“Hey,” Kenny answered without looking at them.

“Any luck?” Eve probed as she strode towards him.

“We got hundreds of stab attack reports in Paris if you want to dig into it,” He reached out for the second monitor in front of them and clicked on a tab prompting the screen to open the CCTV files. “I managed to acquire the files from train stations around the crime scene during the time of death. Do you want to watch it now?”

Eve bit her lip, debating if she would examine it now or maybe she could ask for Oksana’s input. Her girlfriend clearly had some experience in stalking her prey and it would cut off the time they’re going to waste if she will focus on questioning people from Aki’s life today. “Could you send it through my email? I’ll study it later,” At Kenny’s agreement, Eve faced Elena but the door opened, Carolyn and Lance strode inside.

“I apologize for being late, I had to wrangle a few officers from our local police to spare us manpower to be a lookout around the stations,” Contrary to what she said, Carolyn looked composed and in control but the moment she took in Eve's appearance, a rare astonishment carved to her face which made Eve fiddle her soft cashmere coat. “You’re looking… impeccable, Eve,”

At Carolyn’s praise, Elena’s eyes bulged and her neck craned from where she was standing, like she was saying, “SEE? I TOLD YOU!" Jesus, does she look like fucking destitute with her old wardrobe? It’s a good thing Oksana finally reduced the damn things into ashes now or she should be the one hacking it to pieces, she thought petulantly. “Do you have a list for me?” Eve asked Elena, trying to shift the attention away from her damn attire.

Grinning, Elena handed Eve various documents. “Here, I marked the ones that you asked me for,”

“Thank you,” Eve was silent for a moment as she studied the names at the documents. “One more thing, could you ask the medical examiners that handled the bodies to double check for tox? Anything that popped up prior to their deaths? And I want all the crime scene photos,”

“All of them?” Eve distractedly nodded, still reading the documents in her hand.

“Sure thing,” Elena scribbled to her notebook.

“May I add something? Kenny,” Carolyn called him. “Get the original audio of the witness that called the police station and run it to our database, see if he's already in our databank,” Kenny nodded as he reached for the keyboard.

“Are you going back to Paris, Eve?”

“Yes,” She answered Carolyn as she folded the papers she was clutching. “I need to talk to them face to face, to get an impression of them. I have a gut feeling that his home base or where he lived is in Paris,”

“Good, take Lance with you,” At Carolyn’s order, Eve smiled uneasily at him. As Eve took her bag, she saw Elena batting eyes at her and mouthing, “Have fun” which made Eve want to hurl something to her.

“Uhm, Eve sorry about yesterday…” Lance carefully said to her as they made their way outside of the building. With some reluctance, Eve stepped out of the warm building out to the cold morning. No wonder Oksana hates cold, she thought as she shivered when a blast of wind blew past them. It must be because it was always cold in Russia, or maybe it was something else stemmed from her childhood memories, she mused.

“Let’s just forget about it and pretend that it didn’t happen,” Eve suggested as she bundled herself into the cocoon of the warm coat Oksana gave her. A flit of a smile ghosted through her lips at the thought of it.

“Okay,” Lance hid his wince as he followed her.

“Let’s go,” Eve said, ignoring his hurt expression before moving past him, walking in her usual pace. There were so many things to do, so many people to talk to and she doesn’t have the luxury to waste her time. It won’t be long before The Twelve makes a move to do their own investigation and she knew that it will expose her girlfriend once they did. Eve needed to find the culprit before they do or this bubble of happiness will end before both of them even had a chance to enjoy it.  

Oksana thought that Eve saved her but in reality, it was Oksana who saved her. That time in Oksana’s bedroom… her life hung in Oksana’s unbreakable grip, refusing to give up on the woman who stabbed her. Oksana saved her, she pondered as Eve shivered as if remembering that night, the first moment that they locked eyes. As impossible as it ought to have been, Oksana was her answer and she’ll do everything in her power to keep the woman.

***

“Is this her house?” Eve asked Lance as they got out of the car.

“Her family,” Lance sufficed before locking up the door of their car, circling to return in her side. “She still lives with her Asian parents,”

“Well, that was a surprise,” Eve considered the house in front of them as she blindly reached for the documents inside her bag.

“She’s close to her parents,” Lance replied distractedly, suddenly aware of the car behind them. It didn’t stop instead it drove past through them but still, he craned his neck to get a glimpse at the figure behind the tinted glass.

“They must be devastated,” Eve murmured quietly.

Lance hummed in agreement. “They were and when I arrange for an interview with them, her mum was near tears but she’s eager to talk.”

The man observed Eve as she dialed her phone. “Hello, Elena. Could you double check the list you gave me if anyone of them has criminal records? Yes, all of them. Thank you. Call me as soon as you can okay?” Eve issued a growl. “Shut up, Elena,” and laughter echoed at the other side of the line before Eve complaining hung up. “Let’s go,” Lance trailed after her as she knocked on the door.

After knocking a few times, the door opened swiftly as if they were expecting them. The devastation in Michiko Chen was palpable, she’s pale and withdrawn, and her eyes were puffy from weeping, quite different from the family portrait that they acquired from the case files. “Yes?”

The frailness of the woman’s voice tugged Eve’s heart that was struggling to hold distant. “Mrs. Chen, I’m Eve Polastri and this is Lance Simons from MI6,”

“Please,” Michiko cleared her throat before continuing. “Come in,” In a jittery move, the older woman took a step back and turned to look at the living room behind her. As they shuffled into the gloomy room, a man was sitting on a sofa has the same lost look that Michiko has.

“Mr. Feng,” Lance addressed him before taking a bow, which made Eve a little ashamed for forgetting.

"No need young man, take a seat," His eyes troubled and his voice was weary as if tired from a long journey.

“I’m sorry to trouble you—,” She quickly shut her mouth as Feng raised a hand to stop her.

“You didn’t Ms. Polastri, you didn’t.” The man struggled to breathe in for a second, Michiko sat beside him to reach for his other hand, and both of them were trembling. An act of support, they must have been a lovely family before the nightmare ripped their daughter off from them. Mentally crossing them off the suspects' list, Eve waited for them to compose themselves. "Anything you need to know, we'll tell you. Anything that could help your investigation,"

Eve nodded as she opened her notebook. “Mrs. Michiko, when was the last time you saw Aki?”

“It was the morning of the day she died. Aki told us that she's going to check on Charlie, her boyfriend because he's been sick for three days. She woke up early to prepare chicken soup for him, isn’t that right dear?”

Feng tapped his wife’s hand. “Yes, yes it was chicken soup. I'm sure that she left around eight in the morning.”

“So she brought it in a container? Or something disposable?”

"Oh…" Michiko exclaimed and glanced at her husband with a question in her eyes. "Yes, do you remember it too? She used her personal thermos…it has designs of pink birds on it… I can't remember what it was…"

“Flamingos,” Feng sufficed and her wife nodded in agreement.

“Interesting,” Eve murmured to herself as she scratched something in her notebook.

“She had to take a train?” A little confused at her question but the couple nodded in confirmation. “There's a record that you called the police station to notify them that Aki was missing?”

“Yes, her boyfriend Charlie called us around noon, asking for Aki. We knew something must have happened to her, we were thinking of an accident of some sort. So we called the police station to report it but they told us that we have to wait for twenty-four hours to file a missing person report,”

“Are you and Aki close?”

“Very close,”

“Did she talk to you about everything? Anything particular that raised suspicions from you?”

“Yes, we talk about everything and just like I told the police no one we know would hurt her. Everyone loves Aki, Ms. Polastri.” Once again the couple squeezed each other’s hand for comfort.

“I believe you, Mrs. Michiko that’s why I’m doing the best I can to find her killer.” Eve wanted to reach out for the woman when Michiko sniffed and wiped away the tears that rolled down her cheeks.

“She has always been a helpful woman. Everyone from the community knows it, knew it. Our neighbors always take the time to tell us that. Aki always volunteers around here, babysitting, cutting some weeds in their garden, carrying their groceries. She's doesn’t hesitate to give time to others. There was one time that she told us that there was this old man that Aki always helps because he’s living alone and doesn’t have any relatives anymore.”

“Wait, wait, hold up!” Something in Eve’s gut twisted and a sharp jab of recognition flashed in her instinct. “Old man? Did she tell you his name? Where she met him? Where he lived?”

Michiko’s eyes widened at Eve’s incessant questioning. “I-I have no idea… All I know about him was he lives around in the train station in Paris…” Michiko’s breath became labored, beside her, Feng wrapped his arms around his wife and his eyes misted with tears.

“Please think,” Desperation leaked in Eve’s voice as she leaned towards them. She hardly knew that she’s taken Michiko’s hand and gripped her hand in reassurance. “Think everything you can recall, everything that could help your daughter,”

“Aki never mentioned a name…” Michiko whispered with a broken voice and her eyes welled up with tears. "All I know was she met him in the train station, she helped him with his groceries but she didn't mention his name. Aki described him as a soft-spoken and sweet guy. Older than her and soft looking man, like your everyday uncle. Oh my god, I should have asked for more, I should have pushed for more details… now my baby is gone,” She buried her face in his husband’s shoulder and wept.

“This is not your fault, Mrs. Chen,” Eve swallowed the sudden lump that rose in her throat and she let out a shuddering breath. "You raised a good woman, Ma'am. It's not your daughters neither your fault that someone exploited that. Sometimes,” Eve momentarily glanced at the couple, a flicker of guilt passed through her eyes before looking away. “These things happen and it’s no one’s fault but the killer. You don’t have to feel guilty that you survived, I’m sorry, Mrs. Chen, I’m so sorry…”

***

As Lance drove them for their next interview, Eve sat and melancholically observed the sceneries passing through the window of their car. She was silent, her mind in shambles as she achingly recalled the familiar devastation in Chen's' face.

She shouldn’t be but her mind can’t help but dredge up Bill. His wife’s face when they informed her that he passed away. The hollow cries of his newborn child echoing inside the church as if she knew that she will grow up fatherless. The agonizing pain and boiling anger when Eve discovered that the object of her obsession was the one who killed her best friend. Then she remembered the bitter taste that sluggishly bloomed in her mouth as she offered her hollow condolences and the hypocritical statement that she said to Akin Chen's family. Eve clenched her jaw and craned her neck to hide away her unshed tears.

Oksana came from misery and had chosen a path to follow. Hers was to survive by any means. Her father had been a drunk, perhaps, abusing her. As Eve imagined, the younger woman’s childhood was ruined beyond repair, forced to grow up as an adult, forced to carve out of the life she was running from, used her expertise to kill and dance around the law to avoid it.

And now, Eve found herself irrevocably attracted to her. The one who murdered her best friend. The guilt had been nagging her, eating her, tearing her apart, piece by piece. It was easy to lose herself to Oksana but the reality of their situation hasn't changed. She hasn’t forgiven Oksana. Or maybe it was herself she hasn’t forgiven…

If Bill was alive would she accept Oksana as her… partner? Hell yes, he would probably answer her. Eve chuckled to herself as she sniffed silently. He would love Oksana, her honest to god candor that sometimes, well… most of the times that got her in trouble. The sheer childishness that she exhibits even though the world tried so hard to squash it with the cruel reality. And that rare hint of Oksana's humanity that everyone assumed that never existed… It would have astounded him and Bill would find it completely entertaining that she's slowly falling in love with the assassin that they were supposed to arrest. She could just imagine the smug look on his stupid little face after vehemently denying being attracted to Oksana's tits.

 _I'm so sorry, Bill,_ A soft cold wind caressed Eve tear-stricken face. Maybe it was her guilt driven heart but the sudden gust of wind felt like it was an assurance from him. Assurance that he was okay with the choices that she made. Assurance that he likes Oksana. Assurance that he had forgiven her.

Maybe it wasn’t just about Oksana, she contemplated. It seems that Eve also has to forgive herself. 

***

They managed to track down Charlie Adley at his own house. Like the Chen family, he was waiting for them.

“We'd like to speak with you for a few minutes, Mr. Adley. I'm Eve Polastri and this is Lance Simons from MI6,”

His face was a little pale and his lips trembled as he spoke. “Please, come in,” He was tall but a bit skinny, and right-handed, Eve eyed him. He dropped into the sofa and gestured for them to sit.

“How long are you two dating?”

“Forty-two months,”

“Almost… four years? Right?” Eve asked as she watched him dragged a hand over his mouth as if erasing something bitter in it.

“Ah, yes, I'm sorry it’s our thing. I mean, we count months instead of years together because it sounded more… romantic for me…” He was still for a moment as a glimmer of pain ran through his face. Eve's eyes wandered over the state of his house. It was unkempt, a few boxes of take outs were scattered at the dining table, bottles of beer at the coffee table beside him. A picture of man mourning for his lost love.

 “I want to ask you if Aki has mentioned about an old man she occasionally helps? Aki met him in the train station, helped him with his groceries. He lives alone, soft-looking guy, older than her. Her mother mentioned her by passing,”

“Bloody Christ, Aki,” In a helpless gesture, Charlie dragged his hands through his already disheveled hair. “Aki, Aki, Aki…” He chanted miserably.

“I’m so sorry for your lost…” It felt inadequate but Eve offered her condolences.

“She told me about this man you’re speaking, she called him Uncle,” With an obvious effort, he drew in a deep breath. “I didn’t give it a hard thought because Aki always lends a hand to everyone, even strangers. That’s how we met…,” He closed his eyes as he struggled for composure. “She’s just so wonderful. There’s so much kindness in her. Everyone that knows… knew Aki loves it about her.”

"She didn't give you a name? She recently met him? Did he show… enthusiasm? Or he acted interested in her?"

“No, I’m sure she would have told me. There’s no secret between us, we always talk…” His eyes cleared and as he raised his eyes to meet hers, a spike of anger flashed. “Was she… was she…”

There’s no way of denying it and it was foreseeable, probably the most merciful way to break it to him. “Yes, Charlie… she was sexually assaulted…”

“No… no… I should have been with her! It wouldn’t have happened if I wasn’t feeling fucking daft sick! Was it him? Was it that bastard who killed her?!” He rapped his fist over his knee, his eyes wide with fury.

“He’s a person of interest, Charlie but I assure you, we are pursuing this lead.”

“Oh my god, bloody fucking hell… Aki died because of her kindness… she trusted a wrong man and used her… why? Why did this happen to someone like her?”

“Mr. Adley, Aki didn’t die because of her compassion. She died because a man decided to kill her for it. Thank you for your time,”

***

“Impressions, Lance?”

“Both?” Eve nodded as they headed towards their rental car.  “Torn into pieces, their reaction seems genuine. The boyfriend hasn’t moved on, his place is starting to look like a dump. A sign of brooding, grief.”

“Agreed but people often hurt or kill the ones they love,” Eve contemplated out loud as she recalled her own stabbing incident. “However, I had to go with our gut. It wasn’t him. Let’s check out her friends,”

***

As it turns out, all of Aki's friends said a similar thing, the woman was kind, eager to help, volunteers around the shelters, a picture of a happy outgoing woman, close to her family and according to everyone who knows her, she was happy with Charlie.

Aki was a depiction of kind-heartedness.

Everyone who knew her remembers her… loves her… she had an open, trusting heart.

But someone… someone exploited that heart and twisted a knife to end her life.

Eve let every information settle in her mind. The killer made a few mistakes and they can use it as their advantage. She rolled her shoulders to relieve some tension that was building for quite a time now and as she saw that familiar building, Eve hastily stuffed her notebook inside her bag.

It was almost six in the evening as they simultaneously closed the door of their car. It had been a long day and Eve felt drained with all the emotional breakdowns she watched today. Both of them silent as they made way towards the conference room, both exhausted for the day.

"Eve," She nodded at Elena's acknowledgment. She was also sporting the same exhaustion in her eyes.

“Got the tox report?”

“Yes, they found nothing, Eve. Not a single trace of drugs.” Elena watched her shoulder slumped in disappointment. “I sent all of the crime photos in your email,”

“Thank you,” Eve closed her eyes as she heaved a deep breath. “Kenny? An update?”

“Uhm,” He rolled his chair to face her. “I’m still running his voice file in our databank but so far, we haven’t hit anything that requires attention,”

"Goddammit," She cursed inaudibly. She needs to tug something, anything… she can't afford to risk The Twelve's attention. Maybe they'll find something in the CCTV files…  "Where's Carolyn?"

“Someone called her,” Kenny responded, concern etched on his face as she observed Eve’s overwrought emotions.

In cue, her phone started to ring. Thinking it was Oksana, Eve quickly snatched her phone to answer it. “Hello?”

“Eve,”

“Carolyn? Where are you? Why are you calling me?” Her heart stopped for a second, thinking they must have discovered Oksana but as soon as she heard Carolyn’s words, goose bumps ran through her arms. “You are needed here… there’s another murder,”

***

When Eve and Lance arrive at the scene of the crime, there were a number of black and white cars, a few uniformed police and crime scene techs.  A barricade erected around the area to keep the gawkers out of the way. As they wade through the crowd, a few uniforms tried to stop her but Carolyn appeared, gestured them that they were with her.

“Are you sure it was for us?” Panting with fatigue and adrenaline, Eve asked anxiously.

“It is, Eve…” Something in her voice chilled Eve.

“What’s wrong?” Her boss glanced briefly at her which made her more nervous. Hundreds of scenario ran through her mind, including Oksana getting hurt and for a moment, a brief terror flashed on her face. If this was Oksana, she doesn’t know how she would handle it…

“You should see for yourself,” It took her an effort to swallow the sudden lump of emotion that trapped in her throat. With an insane amount of adrenaline rushing in her veins, Eve gauged her environment and strode through the flock of uniforms.

Eve witnessed and studied a lot of crime scenes. Most of them were vicious, brutal, and inhumane but as she neared the victim, nothing prepared Eve for it.

A naked body was sprawled in the middle of the park, arms and legs were spread out wide. She was flawless, clean as if washed. There’s no other visible wound except for a single stab wound at her abdomen. It wasn’t her death that stopped Eve in her tracks, in fact, Eve could swear that it was only the sight of Oksana that managed to falter in her steps.

A sliver of cold anticipation ran through her spine as she saw an apple in the victims’ hand. If anyone could recognize it, it was Eve. She drew in a sharp breath as she carefully studied the scene that was artfully presented to them.

A naked woman with an apple in her right hand. Eve, the first woman that God created and the apple that tempted them. The biblical staging was meant for her. A direct message from the killer.

This wasn’t the first time that a killer fixated their attention to Eve but this must be the first time that a murderer might be out to slaughter her. For real.

***

A quick preview from my next chapter.

_“Why do they always blame me when someone dies?” It was the assassin herself, Villanelle, in flesh. The whole room became still, even Carolyn herself was gaping and if it wasn’t a dangerous assassin standing in front of them, Elena would have laughed out loud at how ridiculous their boss looks. Beside her, Eve suddenly leaped, her food scattered everywhere._

_“Oksana?! What the hell are you doing here?!” Eve roared her voice laced with panic and like a crystal shattering the stillness of the room, Lance and Brent leaped in action._

  
_Villanelle raised an eyebrow as she watch the two men ran towards her, not at least perturbed by the men preparing to attack her. In her own familiar arrogant manner, Oksana threw  Eve a cocky grin and winked before coiling her whole body,  like a jaguar in it's own habitat, suddenly sprang into action._

  
_Eve screamed._

 

**A/N:**

**Seriously, before they aired S2 EP2, I am really planning to use this biblical thingy for my fic and I was so delighted when the show also used it. Anyways, wanna bet how Villanelle would react once she discovered that a serial killer left a direct message to her girlfriend? Clue? Nah but knowing Villanelle, it would be one hell of a ride.**

**Still writing another chapter before posting another one. You know the drill**


	7. Gate Crasher

“Bloody hell, Eve,” Lance blew out a long breath as he took in the body in front of them. He had seen the look of shock and horror from Eve's face when he glanced at her. They knew that it was meant for her but when he saw the pity in Eve’s eyes and how she somehow managed to reign in her outrage, he couldn’t help but admire her tenacity and it made him wonder why she was so driven to solve this case.

“Who found her?” Eve’s voice breathless but steady. One of the uniforms responded.

“We found her, Ma’am. Someone called from the police station that they found a DB here,”

“Did they give you a name?”

“No, after reporting it they hung up the line but,” The man glanced to the body before speaking. “They said it was a gift for MI6,”

“Jesus,” Lance muttered beside her.

“Was it a man?”

“Yes, it was only a brief call.” Eve nodded.

“Can you please bring us a copy of that call? We need it ASAP. Have you started to canvass the area?”

“Yes,”

“Okay,” Eve swallowed hard, adrenaline pounding ruthlessly in her temple. “Notify us if you find anything,” The uniforms nodded to her and left. Eve quickly strode towards the body.

“We need to be fast, whatever he injected her might dissolve in her bloodstream. They need to examine her kidney. Sir?!” Eve tiptoed as she called out to the man who was crouching in front of the victim.

“Are you the coroner?” When the man with thinning gray hair nodded, Eve held up her ID. “I’m Eve Polastri, we’re from MI6. Can we accompany you while you examine the body?”

“Of course. You there! Let them through,” He signaled the officer who was blocking the barricade and quickly opened the police tape for them. Eve, Carolyn and Lance shuffled inside to follow him.

“Have you identified the victim?” Eve strode to match the medical examiners’ steps, leaving Carolyn and Lance behind them.

“Not yet, I just arrived here but one of my assistants is already running it. No ID on the scene. Cause of death looks pretty straight forward. A single stab wound in abdomen, straight to the kidney. Your killer knows what he’s doing.” As they faced the body, Eve got the impression that he bathed the victim.

“He cleaned her?” Eve crouched to get a good look of the victim. She carefully leaned in and took a sniff. _Anti-bacterial soap?_ She asked herself.

“You’re a sharp one,” The ME squatted beside her. “It seems like after killing her, he washed your victim, possibly to rinse away any physical evidence that he left,”

“She wasn’t killed here,” Eve murmured to herself, she stood up to glance around the park. “She was brought here either on foot or he used transportation. We need to sweep the scene, look for a tire marks or foot prints,”

“We’re on it Ms. Polastri,” The ME seemed impressed by Eve’s observation. “We’re done taking photographs, help me check the body?” He gestured which Eve hurriedly agreed.

“She's fresh, probably killed two to three hours ago? Rigor mortis has started to set in,”

He took a hand and rotated it. “No ligature marks in ankles, wrists. No defensive wounds. He must have used drugs. We should check for any puncture marks,”

“Under her nails?” Eve suggested which prompted him to examine her fingers.

“Clean, not a trace.” He gently laid the hand down. “Excuse me,” He murmured gently to the victim before reaching to one of her thighs. He moved to shield her from further humiliation before prying open her thigh. “There’s an indication of sexual contact, still fresh. No sign of semen, vaginal bruising around the vulva. She was raped prior to her death,”

“He’s escalating,” The ME raised a startled glance at her which Eve disregarded. “She’s not the first?” When Eve shook her head, the ME cursed to himself as he shook his head in disgust. He reached under the victim’s body and rolled her.

“No injuries on her back,” He said.

“None is them have back injuries. He likes to kill them face to face,”

“He must have used a plastic cover to transport her. There’s nothing under her body,” He slowly placed the body on the ground face up.

“He deviated from his MO,” Carolyn summarized as Eve hoisted herself up. Her boss was watching Eve as she surveyed the area around them.

“Yes, he's definitely starting to escalate now. He stripped her naked, washed her, posed her this way, left an apple, probably because of the biblical message he had to convey.”

“He dumped her in a park, a little too far from train station.” Lance pointed out.

“He definitely used a transportation to discard her body,” Eve said to Carolyn.

“He must have discovered that were keeping an eye on train stations,” Eve murmured to herself as she bit her thumb, why the need to address her? What’s his game?

“He's watching us?”

“Most probably. He left us a direct message,” Eve replied to Lance who was suddenly agitated beside her. “He's prone to make mistakes now that he deviated from his style. Sir? Excuse me?”

“Yes?” The ME raised his head to meet hers.

“Can you please prioritize the tox report? It seems that he’s using a fast acting sedative to make his victims compliant.”

“Okay, we’re transferring her now in morgue,” The ME straightened and signaled his assistant to come forward.

“Thank you,” All three of them took a step back as the team of medical examiners took the victims’ body. As they slowly zipping up the body bag, for a few seconds, Eve felt like she saw herself inside. She needed to settle down, it wouldn’t help anyone if she let her fear and emotion overwhelm her. She swallowed down the sick dread that had been simmering in her belly and the damn headache that’d been harassing the base of her skull. Eve needed to focus because this time, Oksana wasn’t the only one who’s in danger. Both of them were.

“I instructed Brent to canvass here and acquire all the CCTV files around the area. There might be a chance that he was caught on camera while transporting the victim’s body. I instructed everyone to keep a lid on this, so we need to be subtle. We don’t want to attract unwanted attention,” Both of them nodded. “Let’s go back to the headquarters and brief us with what you discovered.”

***

It was already dark when they finally arrived at the MI6 building. The streetlights around the building were already lit, shining around that massive glass of building making it look—refined, modern, and impersonal. Crickets echoed softly but as soon as they slammed their door one by one, everything went silent. It was too eerie and quiet for Eve’s taste.

Eve should probably call or send a message to Oksana that they caught another victim to avoid making the young woman worry.

Eve absentmindedly followed the two as she sneaked a text to Oksana, telling her to eat her dinner and not to wait up for her. She waited a few seconds for Oksana’s reply as she silently followed them.

“Eve,” Carolyn spoke as Lance opened the door for them. She didn’t notice that they were now at the conference room. Eve quickly stuffed her phone back into her bag and gestured for Carolyn to go in first before following her.

Elena and Kenny donned an anxious expression when every one of them took a seat at the conference table. Eve released an exhausted sigh as she sank to her chair, sensing that Elena was trying to gauge her mood, Eve gave her a worn-out smile.

“There has been another murder,” Carolyn’s cold announcement made Elena and Kenny halt in their seats. Lance squirmed but visibly tensed. “As far as we can tell from the visual, it seems that the killer left a direct message to Eve.”

They should be used to it by now at how Eve draws creepy obsession from killers but nonetheless, Elena and Kenny paled at the news.

“We need to keep this to ourselves, keep a tight lid over it. If this goes out, it will put Eve in a dangerous position.” Carolyn leaned back to her chair and regarded her favorite agent which made Eve still, it always unnerved Eve every time Carolyn tossed her this…detached look. “We both know better than anyone else, Eve that it would be easier and less… sticky if I would take you off the case,”

She wasn’t supposed to feel this way but it felt like a kick to her gut to even suggest it but she knew Carolyn, she could recognized that calculating shrewd gaze and this time, Eve wouldn’t fall for it. “Yes, Carolyn it would be less messy but we both know that you can’t.”

At Carolyn’s stunned face, a sliver of pleasure hummed in Eve’s veins which made her grew bold… confident. “If the killer meant what he presented to me, I’m the one he wants. He wants my attention or he wouldn’t have left it that way. If you take me off the case he either goes on a rampage or disappears into thin air. Both outcomes wouldn’t be satisfactory for the higher ups, am I right Carolyn?”

The tension in the room was palpable and could be sliced with a knife. Eve maintained Carolyn’s shrewd gaze, refusing to shrink in her seat. She wouldn’t back down on this case, she can’t… Eve has so much to lose if this killer weren’t caught. A muscle in Carolyn’s cheek jumped and a flicker of pride shone in Carolyn’s eyes.

“Good, now tell me what you found out,” Carolyn replied.

Eve struggled not to feel so much relief, to held herself back. Focus, Eve reminded herself. “We were right about his profile, Aki labeled him as an old man to her parents and called him Uncle to her boyfriend. His appearance made his victims feel safe around him and easier for him to snatch them.” Everyone rapidly opened their own notebook as Eve started.

“That’s why he was able to take his victims without any fuss,” Elena mused.

“Yes and Aki’s parents confirmed that he lives near the Paris train station where he met her. At the day of her death, she brought a personal thermos but as per police report, the officers didn’t find anything with her,”

“He took it with him?” Eve nodded at Lance’s question.

“When we take him down, it’ll be a nail in his coffin. Direct evidence that he was with the victim the day she died.” Eve said. “We need to inquire at the other victims if they were missing some personal items and I’m wagering my salary that he took something from them, a souvenir of some sort, something he can look at, he can bask the glory with. I bet he gets a kick out of it, every time he could get away with the murders but that’s a mistake, a stupid mistake.”

“So there’s a possibility that he took something from our latest victim?” Kenny asked.

“He took something alright, the bastard was too caught up in his brilliance to even consider that as a mistake. He got away with the previous victims, why not this one? He’s escalating dangerously, he left a direct message to us, a gift, and a taunt to us. He’s skirting around that line and he left a lot of evidence for us to follow, this—he has a  need for attention, he’s cocky, it’s his ego talking now and this would be his downfall,”

“Okay,” Carolyn paused to take in the faces around her waiting for an instruction. It had been a long day but as Eve said, they need to investigate it now that the trail is still fresh. This is the best shot that they had. “Kenny, find every residential address or any flat four kilometers away from the train station and once Brent comes back, take whatever files he acquired and run it at our database. Elena and I are going to call the officers that handled the cases to confirm what personal items they might be missing.  Eve, Lance go the morgue and follow up on the autopsy of our new vic. Call us as soon as you find something and tell them to prioritize identifying the victim, we need to notify the next of kin as soon as possible. Eve,” Carolyn called her as everyone around them scuffled to their own assignments. Exhausted but still alert, Eve threw a questioning glance at her boss.

“You need to be careful, he might turn on you,” Carolyn watched Eve’s face grew ferocious which startled her.

“He’s not going to, at least not yet,” Eve said with decisiveness in her voice. “He still needs me and he’s planning something. I’m still not sure what it is but I promise you, he won’t get there,”

Carolyn regarded her for a few seconds before nodding thoughtfully. “See to it. I don’t want to lose one of my best agents, that would be a complete waste of talent.” It was uttered in cool, calm and collected voice but a fragment of concern oozed through it which stunned Eve for a moment. It seemed that Carolyn must be really worried about her and it perplexed her that there’s someone concerned about her well-being other than Oksana. She must have done something right in her life.

***

The morgue was silent and pleasantly cold when Eve and Lance strode inside. The scent of disinfectant was strong but it couldn’t hide the smell of death as it wafted around them. She sneaked a glance to the hulk of a man beside her when Eve noticed how he suddenly became pale. He must have remembered his days in Afghanistan, taking a pity on him, Eve decided to ignore it, pretending she didn’t see it.

As instructed by the receptionist, they arrived and saw that their victim was already in the process of being opened up. She was laid on a slab, a large Y incision dividing her torso as the coroner gently pried open her body.

“What can you tell me?” The coroner scarcely acknowledged their presence as he took a kidney to weigh it in.

“Her name Aika Huang, age thirty five, an accountant, residing at Church Lane, London. Got a wife, together for five years. Liz Danvers. I assume you’ll be the one who will notify the next kin?” Both of them nodded and the coroner gave them a tight smile. “I’ll bring the next of kin in after this.”

He nodded before continuing to his report. “The killer used a scalpel, thin-bladed knife, jammed through her stomach right to her kidney. From the angle, he's most likely right handed—,”

“Wait? Right-handed?”

“Yes, he favored his right hand based from the angle of wound. One quick jab, economically done. He wouldn’t have done this in public, so he might have his own private place to kill these women. Found a puncture mark on her shoulder, undoubtedly from a pressure syringe.”

“Tox report?”

“Just arrived before you came. Good thing you told us to prioritize it. We found small traces of Diazepam, it barely registered in her bloodstream.”

“So he tranqed her? Before or during? He might have lured her somewhere, or he must have brought a transportation along with him, he can’t afford to make a scene,” Eve bit her thumb as she habitually talked to herself.

“He played a stranger that needs help, no one would ignore an old man asking for help. He's safe, perceived as weak and he's using it to his advantage. He managed to inject a tranq face to face, another kick for him. You need prescription for Diazepam to acquire it right?”

The coroner nodded to her as he took off the plastic gloves from his hands. “Yes, it’s not easy to acquire it. It is a medication for people with anxiety, agitation, seizures and hallucinations.”

“So he might have or know someone with a psychological condition,” Eve murmured.

“We can trace the drugs he used, narrow it around Paris,” Lance suggested as he watched Eve.

“Yes, yes we could ask around but it'll be hard to haggle information since we might be dealing with someone that has a psychological problem. We might encounter problems in confidentially code of ethics but we could tug some supplier or pharmaceutical stores for information and CCTVs near the station in Paris. Can you forward to us your medical findings and report?”

“Of course. I heard it was left for MI6?”

“Yes, look, we appreciate if you’ll keep mum about this,”

“Don’t worry, Ms. Polastri, you have my word,” He paused and tilted his head. “So he made it personal? Cocky son-of-a-bitch eh?” Eve snorted at his choice of words.

 “We'll be looking at what kind of soap he used to wash her,” Both agents glanced at him. “Whatever the result, it’s another addition to your growing pile of evidence against him. So toss me whatever you want me to examine, Miss Polastri.” His face hardened as he gestured towards the victim. “I do this all the time. I don’t usually get personally invested in situations like this, but every now and then, I see something that hurts me. I saw the files and all I can see was a complete waste of life. I want to see this through,”

Appreciating his intention, Eve gave him a tired but grateful smile. “Thank you, Doctor. Let’s just hope that we'll be fast enough to stop him,”

“I do hope so, Ms. Polastri. Taken that he left a direct message to you? I do hope that you do,”

***

As they arrived at Huang’s residence, Eve hesitated in her seat as she saw the domesticity of the victim’s life. As she took in the laid-back look of the house, it gave her the impressions that like the Chen’s, they also lived an ordinary but loving life. And they’re going to be the one who will deliver devastating news and break someone’s heart—perhaps, also her life, Eve suddenly felt ill.

“It’s never going to become easy,” She glanced at Lance as he turned off the ignition of their car. His hand noticeably tightened at the steering wheel, and his eyes looking directly in front of him.

“If it becomes easy, then we’re no different from the ones who placed them in the slab,” She looked back, noting the sudden movement from the living room. Aika’s wife must have seen them. “Let’s go,” Both of them climbed down from the car and walked towards the porch and rang the doorbell.

“Liz Danvers?” Eve’s asked after the woman opened the door.

“Yes? Is there something you need?” Her American accent drifted as she spoke with confusion in her voice. She’s blonde and a little taller than Eve. Liz apprehensively glimpsed at Lance which is reasonable at his gloomy expression.

“I’m Eve Polastri and this is Lance Simons from MI6. We need to talk to you in private,”

Puzzlement ran over her face before glancing anxiously at them. “Okay,” She took a step back, an invitation for them to follow Liz. The place didn’t surprise her, a few personal pictures hung around the living room, the place was tidy—homey, and a few trinkets were scattered around. As soon as Eve saw the large wedding portrait of the couple in the middle of the room, the nauseating feeling in her throat was back.

“Is there anything you want? Tea?” Before she could walk away, Eve laid a hand of her arm to stop her.

“We’re okay, Ms. Danvers. We need to sit down,” Irritation flashed over Liz’s face.

“What’s this all about? What happened?”

“It’s bad, Ms. Danvers. Let’s sit down first, please, it’s about your wife, Aika,”

“Aika? What the fuck happened to her?” Pure terror leaped in her eyes as Liz gripped her arms, fingers digging to her flesh.

There’s no other way to do it and Eve wished to god that there’s other way to do it gently. “I’m so sorry to tell you that your wife’s dead,”

“This is bullshit,” Liz exploded, grabbed her by the collar as she pushed Eve, as if wanting to shake her. Lance quickly stepped forward, gripping Liz shoulder to stop her. “This is a lie! She’s on her way home! Why would you say something like that?!”

“I wish it wasn’t true,” Eve spoke in a quiet but broken voice. “I’m so sorry, Liz, I’m so sorry for your loss,”

Eve saw her heaved a breath, a broken sob escaped Liz’s mouth but she wiped it off, as if trying to erase the bitterness out of it. “I’ll call her right now, you’ll see. You’re wrong, she’ll prove you wrong. This is a mistake, she’s alive.”

Eve winced when the woman finally released her grip around her arms. She waited as Liz called her wife, knowing the outcome, Eve braced herself once more when the woman cursed loudly, her eyes frantic and her voice are starting to quiver. “She’s just busy. M-Maybe she’s driving.”

“I’m so sorry, Ms. Danvers. If you would come with me, I’ll take you to her.” Eve told her.

“It won’t be her, I’m telling you right now, it’s not my wife,” Liz cried.

Lance took a step forward, as gentle as he could, he spoke. “We’ll take you to her.”

Eve took a deep breath as Lance led the dazed woman outside. She just hoped that they were finished cleaning Aika now. It was the least thing they could do for her family.

***

When they arrived, they took her straight to the viewing room. Liz shoulders were hunched, trembling, her eyes wide with panic as she followed them inside. Liz’s eyes darted around them as she took in the bodies around them.

“Ms. Liz Danvers?” The coroner asked her. As the woman nodded stiffly, the coroner guided them to one of the slab and he slowly took off the cloth that was covering what was inside.

“No!” Liz croaked as the tears welled up violently to her eyes. “NO, NO, NO!” She shouted with a broken voice. She stepped closer to her and looked down to Aika’s pretty face. She reached out to stroke her cheeks gently and leaned to kiss her forehead.

“Aika, Aika, Aika!” Anguished cries echoed around the room as Liz slowly slid down to the floor like a melted candle.  Eve knelt beside her and put her arms around the sobbing woman.

“I’m so sorry, Liz,” Eve said in a hushed shattered voice. Beside them, Lance watched with a torn expression as Eve rocked Liz like a baby asking for a comfort.

They let her cry, let her loose every pain that was caught in her chest, let her throat ran dry and hoarse from shouting. Lance offered Liz water when she finally settled down, her eyes glassy in shock, in pain as Liz sat beside Eve. She took a small sip of water, evidently making an effort to swallow it. “Was it an accident?” She croaked which prompt Eve to rub her back once again.

“She was murdered, Ms. Danvers,”

“What? Why would anyone hurt her? She doesn’t have enemies, Ms. Polastri,”

“We believe it was random, Ms. Danvers. But I promise you, I’m giving you my word that we’re going to take care of her now. We’re going to stop the man who put her in there,” Liz’s hand tightened on hers as another tear slid down her cheek. “You shouldn’t be alone. We can contact someone to pick you up here.”

“She’s my life, Ms. Polastri,” Liz Danvers wasn’t holding back her tears now as she raised her eyes to meet hers.  “I have no one now,” Eve closed her eyes as she took the woman once more inside her arms. Then there is nothing she can offer her but justice, it’s the only thing that can comfort the grieving woman now, she thought.

***

It was around midnight when they finally arrived at the MI6 building. They had to wait for the officers to pick Liz up and escort her somewhere safe, familiar. Eve’s emotions were completely wrecked, her body was exhausted, drained from the adrenaline that was coursing through her veins and her mind was numb from the headache that’s been pounding her skull for hours.

She’s my life, Liz had said. Back then Eve didn’t know that, had no idea about it. With Niko, everything was… mundane… blank… numb… looking back, she wouldn’t have understood that but now, with Oksana, she finally did.

Carolyn and Elena were on the phone, talking, probably verifying the items that could possibly missing from the previous victims. Kenny was intensely hunched in front of his computer, occasionally rubbing his eyes while Brent sat beside him, flicking a bunch of documents, sporadically muttering something to Kenny.

Eve sat heavily on the chair and dragged both of her hands through her already chaotic hair. Liz’s grief had wormed its way into her heart. The devastation of emotions she’s felt from Liz had all but clung to her. It wouldn’t help Eve, or it could just hinder her rational thinking.

“Eve? Are you alright?” Eve was shaken at the sudden tears that lingered around her eyes. Furiously blinking, she swallowed hard to hide away the lump of emotions that struck her throat. She nodded while she tried to avoid everyone’s worried glance to her.

Anytime it could be her, she thought anxiously. Or it could be Oksana, opening that door, being notified that Eve’s dead and the dread hung to her all night since she saw the message from the killer.

“Here, drink this,” All of a sudden, bottled water was held in front of her.

“Thanks,” Eve muttered gratefully to the woman before opening the bottle to drink.

“We ordered food if you’re up to it,” Elena offered gently. On cue, Eve stomach growled. Beside her, the two chuckled at Eve when she blushed.

“I’ll get you food,” Elena said as she stood up to get Eve some sustenance.

“I was thinking,” Lance unexpectedly said out of nowhere as they unhurriedly dug to their food. “Maybe it wasn’t just one suspect,”

“What do you mean?” Elena’s ears perked when Eve’s voice abruptly became hard. Villanelle has always been a sensitive topic for Eve. There’s an unspoken agreement between all of them that Eve was attracted to the assassin and their colleague wasn’t subtle about it. If Elena could guess, the only reason that stopping Eve from admitting it loud to them was Villanelle killed Bill. She couldn’t blame Eve, the assassin was gorgeous as sin but their attraction to each other had always been different, beyond physical. Watching them circling each other, chasing one another was enough to frustrate Elena. And now, Lance had no idea what he was prodding. No one informed him that despite Villanelle’s terrifying faults, Eve was equally obsessed with the woman. Well, at least they’ll have their own entertainment now during this time of boredom, she mused as she sat back and grinned towards Carolyn who was now similarly invested to their topic.

“The killer left a direct message at you right? Don’t you think there’s a possibility that it’s Villanelle?” Elena could swear that Eve’s eyes flashed dangerously, like a dagger glinting in the night. Elena bit back her glee, knowing that any second now, Lance head will roll out of nowhere but a familiar voice spoke up, the accent was so familiar, a chilling alarm ran over Elena’s spine.

“Why do they always blame me when someone dies?” It was the assassin herself, Villanelle, in flesh. The whole room became still, even Carolyn herself was gaping and if it wasn’t a dangerous assassin standing in front of them, Elena would have laughed out loud at how ridiculous their boss looks. Beside her, Eve suddenly erupted, her food scattered everywhere.

“Oksana?! What the hell are you doing here?!” Eve roared her voice laced with panic and like a crystal shattering the stillness of the room, Lance and Brent leaped in action.

Villanelle raised an eyebrow as she watch the two men ran towards her, not at least perturbed by the men preparing to attack her. In her own familiar arrogant manner, Oksana threw a cocky grin at Eve and winked before coiling her whole body, like a jaguar in her its own habitat, she swiftly sprang into action.

Eve screamed.

***

**A/N:**

**A hint for next chapter.**

**Action and soft sex.**

**A HUGE THANKS TO[ATLPanther](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ATLPanther) FOR EDITING THIS CHAPTER. YOU ROCK BUDDY! **

 


	8. The Duel

All hell broke loose.

Eve helplessly watched Brent leap over the table, as Lance pulled her away from where she was standing and dragged her away from the chaos. She tried to yell, to stop them from hurting Oksana but her scream was drowned out by the deafening crash inside the conference room when everyone jumped from their own seats to run.

“You don’t want to do that,” Oksana’s voice was chillingly pleasant when Brent circled around her. The assassin wasn’t following Brent’s movements. Instead, she was calculatingly holding Lance’s gaze. Her cat-like gaze flickered when Lance pulled Eve behind him, as if shielding her from the assassin’s harm. When Oksana smiled coldly, like a jaguar before a kill, Eve quickly broke the man’s hold.

“Brent, DON’T!”, Eve shouted but it was too late.

The man leaped towards Oksana but she lithely crouched, sprang and aimed a punch to his face. Eve’s scream caught her in her throat when she watched Brent fly past them and crash down heavily on the conference table. He was up quickly but his lips were bleeding which Brent wiped off with the back of his hand.

“You should listen to her, Brent”, Oksana said. It was said in her usual playful voice as she grinned ferociously at him. Oksana’s blood hummed with pleasure as she watched the blood ooze from the mouth of the man in front of her. It had been too long and she’d held back far too long for someone with a bloodlust like hers.

“Shut up!”, Brent hissed, but then he breathed in a lungful of air, trying not to wince when pain sliced through his lips. He hadn’t anticipated her speed. He hadn’t even anticipated her pure strength. The assassin was sporting the same height as him but he could see the muscles ripple around her lean arms as she coiled her body. They weren’t kidding when the MI6 labeled her as dangerous.

He charged at her but the assassin was braced and ready. She met his attack using an arm to block his blow. His eyes lost focus when the assassin managed to jab an elbow to his gut. Like a bullet, Oksana’s elbow flew and before he knew it, an ugly crunching sound of bone against bone snapped his head. Off balance, Brent tried to regain his bearing but she was merciless. She got her foot under him, her hand coiled like a snake, and then it flew, gripping his face. She threw her weight into the move that sent them both tumbling to the floor.

Oksana tasted blood as she stood up. He was unmoving, probably unconscious from the barrage of focused assaults that she unleashed.

“Oh my god, Brent!” Elena exclaimed, her face paled as she watched Oksana casually flick something off her black leather jacket. Oksana was utterly in control and terrifying as hell as she slowly faced her stunned audience.

“Now, I’d prefer if you take your hands off my girlfriend before I rip them from your body,” Oksana said coolly. Everyone gasped aloud at Oksana’s possessive words. Eve felt the color drain out of her face and her heart pounded wildly inside her chest.

“You really are insane,” Lance spat at her which only amused the assassin.

“I’m not insane, mind you. I used to have my own therapist and I did regular visits,” Oksana shrugged good-humoredly, as if they were discussing something mundane. “Now, I’m asking you nicely and when I mean nicely, I’m giving you an opportunity to come out of this unscathed and alive. Get your hands off my _Eve_ before I break them for you.”

It didn’t fool Eve even for a second as Oksana’s voice drifted into her usual deadly Russian accent but the savagery that she was holding back was obvious and her eyes, Jesus Christ. Eve felt an icy terror slide into her veins as she took in Oksana’s vivid golden eyes, burning with a trace of frosty rage.

Oksana couldn’t hide her revulsion when Lance tried to hide Eve behind him. He didn’t know it, but he was in grave danger. Seeing the extent of Oksana’s rage was enough to snap Eve out of her trance. “Oksana, calm down, it’s not what you think!”, she cried.

“Oh? So this man-sized baby wasn’t suspecting me?”, Oksana asked. Eve gripped Lance’s elbow when she felt the man suddenly tense up beside her. Eve swallowed hard. She couldn’t deny what Oksana said. Hell, Oksana had even heard it from Lance’s mouth. Still, as far as she could tell, Oksana’s impulsive rampage wasn’t about her colleague’s accusation.

“Would you please calm down? You’ve got it all wrong!”, Eve yelled. A muscle from Oksana’s jaw jumped when she saw Lance pull Eve back.

“Yes!”, Lance moved away from Eve, completely ignoring her pleading gaze. “I am suspecting you. I read everything about you.” His words were like large boulder, loudly crashing the silence of the room.

“I see...”, Oksana replied coolly. Eve could swear that the temperature inside the room dropped drastically when she met Oksana’s eyes. “You know that’s extremely nosy and rude of you”, she continued. Despite the large grin on her face, Eve could see how Oksana’s eyes darkened at Lance’s words.

“Does it matter if everyone suspects you?”, Eve interrupted Lance as she once again shrugged off his grip, trying to hold onto Oksana’s infuriated gaze. “You know that I believe you!”

“What’s this?!”, Lance exclaimed and Eve wanted to elbow him just to shut him up.

“Lance for the love of god, shut the fuck up!”, Elena hissed at him, her eyes still fixed on the rigid assassin in front of them. She had no idea what was happening but it seemed that Eve and Oksana had a mutual understanding between them and right now the only thing that matters is to calm Oksana or they’d all face her wrath.

To their utter astonishment, Oksana chuckled. “Thank you, Elenaaa,” she said her name in a sing-song voice and threw a playful wink at the stunned woman. _I like her_ , she mouthed to Eve and smiled pleasantly, as if they were just discussing something ordinary.

Oksana began, “For someone who read my file, you’re bold...” The assassin shrugged with a wrinkled face, still playful and characteristically Oksana. “...And stupid.”, she finished.

“Oksana...”, Eve warned as Lance started to tremble with unrestrained fury and took a step forward.

Completely ignoring Eve, Oksana studied her fingertips, as if she were bored at their current conversation. “I don’t know how many times I have to repeat this, _Lance_ ,” His name was uttered with a hard Russian accent, a clear hint of threat. “Please, let go of my girlfriend or—,”

Eve was shouting, she could hear herself call out Oksana’s name as she watched Lance dive in the direction of her girlfriend but Oksana anticipated his move. She nimbly took a step back as she twisted her shoulder to body slam his incoming move. He recovered quickly and aimed for the assassin’s stomach and his blood sang when he heard the assassin gasp for breath but Oksana held him fast and as she fell to the ground she took him with her. Lance grunted as they crashed the floor, the assassin quickly rolled away from him but the man wasn’t about to give her a chance to recover. He chased her, rolling, as the assassin quickly pushed herself up and vaulted away from him.

She executed a karate chop. He batted away her chop, twisting his hip for a quick punch but Oksana somersaulted and aimed for his chin, making contact. Lance stumbled back a little disoriented and he wasn’t able to recover in time as Oksana’s fist flew over his nose and blood splattered as he heard the crunch of his cartilage being shattered.

Oksana was breathing heavily and her mind was solely focused on one thing. She was out for blood. As soon as she heard that the killer left a direct message for Eve, a gut-wrenching feeling slammed into her belly, it simmered for hours and slowly a cold anxiety enveloped her chest. The emotion was so foreign it took Oksana a hard time to recognize it but as soon as she knew what it was, Oksana’s blood drained from her face. It was fear. Her mind blanked and her body sang for blood. Someone was out to hurt Eve. And Oksana wouldn’t let them.

As blood gushed out of his nose, Lance stumbled back but Oksana followed him like a jaguar aiming for the kill. Oksana pivoted and threw a sharp hook at his face, kneed his stomach, hopped back and spun, a foot landed on his jaw and his lumbering figure fell down. Hard.

“Stop this now, Oksana!” Eve screamed.

Oksana heard Eve’s words, but they didn’t register to her because she was so fixated on satisfying her urge for blood. What did register was Eve holding a bread knife against her.

“That’s enough,” Eve hissed, trying to keep her voice even and stand. Oksana’s eyes met hers. They were dilated, her golden eyes were more prominent, a speck of emotion flickering inside of them.

“So you’re going to stab me again, Eve Polastri?”, Oksana hummed as she started toward her. She whispered Eve’s name as she approached. Elena tried to reach out for Eve but Kenny pulled her clothes, cautioning her not to move.

“If you don’t calm down, I will,” Eve bluffed. She knew that she didn’t mean it but things were getting out of hand and if she continued to let Oksana run wild, it might jeopardize their new found life together.

“Really? Well, knowing how easy it was for you to hurt me, why don’t you go ahead and try?” Oksana challenged. Her tone was amused but a flicker of hurt ghosted through her eyes. It pained Eve to see that despite Oksana pretending that that day in Paris meant nothing, Eve had wounded her physically and emotionally.

“Please, Oksana,” Eve backed up, her nerves can be heard in her voice. “I need to check if they are all right.” 

“Why? To see if I killed them? Because I’m a psychopath?”, Oksana raised an eyebrow to her.

“You know that is not the issue here, Oksana. It was never an issue and it’s insulting for you to think that it was,” Eve cleared her throat as fear broke her voice.

“And despite that, you are holding a knife against me as if I’m here to hurt you,” Oksana murmured silkily.

“I’M JUST TRYING TO MAKE YOU STOP YOUR RAMPAGE, OKAY?!” Eve yelled as she threw up her hands in frustration.

“I’m not the one who wants to kill you, Eve. In fact, I’m the one who has kept you safe ever since this serial killing started,” Oksana said with a sense of smug satisfaction. She thought that she had Eve’s number but before she could celebrate proving herself right, Eve’s eyes flashed dangerously.

“What do you mean?”, Eve hissed as she slowly put down the knife she was holding.

“I’ve been keeping a close eye on you since the second victim and until now,” Oksana answered, her blood now settling down, simmering into quietness.

“That’s why you knew,” Eve said thoughtfully. As realization dawned on Eve, something in her voice made Oksana nervous. “You’ve been following me this whole time…”

“Yes—,” Oksana began, but cut herself off. If it weren’t Eve, Oksana would have sprung away from her as soon as she stalked forward. They were toe to toe but their height difference made it hard for Eve to glare at the assassin but it didn’t stop her from jabbing a finger into her girlfriend’s chest. 

“I told you to trust me and to trust my team that I’m protected!” Eve shouted. Oksana visibly flinched and staggered back when Eve jabbed her hard again. This isn’t what she expected, hell, she knew Eve would be annoyed but pissed? Her face crumpled with confusion as she took another step back as Eve trailed after her furiously.

Eve continued, “But no! You just saunter in here with your fancy deadass disguises and stalked me!” Eve shrieked, rage flashing in her eyes and if she weren’t seething mad, she would have laughed at how Oksana, the one who took down their two agents handily, shrunk back, face furrowed with astonishment. “As if I’m one of your targets! Acting like a-a-a—,” Eve sputtered, her face red with temper. “A psychopath!” She spat with disgust.

“But I am a psychopath!”, Oksana yelled. Regaining her composure, Oksana continued to fire back. “And do you expect me to just sit by and watch you get stabbed by this killer?!” They were both breathing hard, eyes blazing as they glared at each other. “ _ **You, Eve Polastri, are mine**_ ,”, Oksana stated emphatically, grabbing a fistful of Eve’s shirt, pulling her closer. “And do you think I would sit idly and watch someone chase and threaten my woman? Do you think just because I’ve fallen in love with you, I’ve lost my edge? That I’m not capable of killing? Of defending what’s mine?” Oksana snarled, as if bearing her teeth.

Oksana’s admission rendered everyone speechless. Even Eve was wide-eyed at her unexpected confession. The agent opened her mouth but no sound came out. At times like this, when Oksana opened up herself to Eve, the trust, the rare hint of vulnerability, compelled Eve to forget everything and just… take care of the young woman.

“Oksana, I—,” When Eve was about to speak, Carolyn interrupted them.

“Now that we settled that Oksana should be eliminated from the suspects, I would appreciate it if you would keep your marital spats out of my case.” Eve felt shame and embarrassment flush her face when Oksana released her grip on Eve’s shirt. They actually had their first lover’s quarrel in front of her colleagues and what’s even more embarrassing was the fact that she spent days of hiding Oksana’s location and ended up admitting it out loud. Jesus fucking Christ.

“Elena, Kenny, take a look at our two agents to see if there is any permanent damage,” Carolyn ordered. When the two glanced at each other but didn’t move, Carolyn released a sigh. “Go on...”, she prodded. Oksana didn’t move as they approached the two agents.

“Oksana, I assume you had your reasons for exposing yourself to MI6?”, Carolyn asked. While everyone else was still dumbfounded, Carolyn made her way towards the splintered table. She aimed a displeased look at it before stopping in front of the couple. Both men finally stirred, slowly regaining their consciousness.

A muscled flickered in Oksana’s jaw when she finally released her burning gaze from her girlfriend to glance at Carolyn.

"Villanelle," She snapped, demanding to use her codename instead of her real name.

Carolyn paused but didn't break the eye contact from the assassin as she repeated her question.

“I’ll be helping the MI6 to catch this serial killer,” she said firmly.

Everyone around them raised a startled glance towards the determined assassin. When Eve was about to open her mouth, Carolyn raised a single finger to stop her. “And what makes you think that we need your help? We are doing fine without you,” she replied.

“At what cost? For the expense of Eve’s safety?”, Oksana rejoined, a thin-veiled scintilla of fury trickled into the assassin’s voice.

“You know that she’s protected with us—,” Carolyn began, but was interrupted when Oksana released a hollow laugh and Carolyn’s mouth thinned with irritation.

“You mean those two?”, Oksana grin smugly as she threw a thumb to the man behind them. “They can barely stop me so what makes you think that they can protect Eve?”

“Have you forgotten that I can have you arrested before you can step out of this building?”, Carolyn countered indifferently which made Eve reach out for Oksana. Jesus, this scenario is what she’d been trying to prevent. Her hands tightened around Oksana’s arms which made her girlfriend glanced at her. Sensing her anxiety, Oksana reached out for her hand to squeeze it for reassurance before facing Carolyn again.

“And you do know that I can murder you all here and no one would know it,” Oksana replied. Carolyn wasn’t the least bit perturbed at the assassin’s threat.

“Oksana...” Eve pleaded. Threatening her boss wouldn’t help their cause and at this rate, Eve wanted to faint.

“Tell me, Villanelle, what happened to your former employers?” Carolyn countered, ignoring the assassin’s intimidation. Behind them, Eve saw both men groan in pain as Elena and Kenny supported them as they stood up. Eve encircled her arm around Oksana’s waist, as if trying to shield her when Lance glared at her girlfriend. Everyone in the room noticed their interaction but no one was bold enough to mention anything about it.

“I’m retired. I’m done with them,” The assassin said flatly.

“So it’s true,” Carolyn murmured to herself.

“What’s true? What do you mean?”, Eve demanded.

“We have an inside source which they confirmed that Villanelle is MIA and the organization declared her dead. It seems that the stabbing incident between the two of you convinced everyone that you’re already deceased,” Carolyn answered. Oksana made a face at Carolyn’s words which prompted the woman to raise an eyebrow at her.

“I can’t believe someone like you managed to smash my unblemished underground reputation beyond repair, ugh…”, The assassin pouted like a child and her shoulders slumped.

“HEY! What’s that supposed to mean?!” Eve squawked, mildly offended at her girlfriend’s words.

“So you want in?”, Carolyn offered, ignoring their banter.

“What?! Carolyn, are you insane? You know what she’s capable of!”, Lance hissed, his eyes shooting daggers at Oksana which only made the assassin smile innocently at him.

“I know that, Lance,” She answered patiently, as if talking to a child having tantrums. “And clearly, both of you experienced it.” Both agents reddened at Carolyn’s mild insult. “That’s why I am hiring her. In fact, MI6 had been trying to hire her since Eve profiled her.”

“Is that the reason why you visited her in prison?”, Eve probed. 

“Yes,” Carolyn replied.

Beside her, Oksana answered. “You should have visited me, Eve. I even asked for you when your boss came,”

“What?!” Eve exclaimed, surprised at Oksana’s words.

Carolyn tutted and shook her head. “You didn’t even consider our offer so why would I give in to your request?” Oksana sulked at Carolyn’s words. “So do you want in?”

Oksana nodded rather enthusiastically and Eve breathed in a sigh of relief. At least she wouldn’t have to spend the rest of their evening trying to arrest her girlfriend.

“Good, I’m going to arrange something for Villanelle. All of us need some downtime, meet up, tomorrow at seven. Be sure to sleep this off, we need fresh mind for this. Eve?” Eve’s questioning eyes raised to hers.

“Bring your girlfriend tomorrow and whatever issues you have, resolve it at the privacy of your home. The only declaration of love I can tolerate in public is during wedding ceremony”, Carolyn said tersely. Oksana snickered and Eve groaned in embarrassment.

Tomorrow, Oksana would be working for MI6. The assassin that they were supposed to arrest would be one of them, sharing space with Lance and Brent whom she totally annihilated. She would have regular normal (?) interactions with the sweet Kenny and sassy Elena. Eve could feel another headache drumming her temple just thinking about how she would have to explain to Elena how she and Oksana eventually got together.

“Let’s go home, baby,” Oksana said. Eve grimaced and her face reddened at Oksana’s use of the term of endearment. Carolyn raised an eyebrow towards the assassin, as if reminding the young woman what she said a few minutes ago. Kenny blushed and Eve could she how Elena’s mouth twitched at her mortification. She ignored Lance’s glower and Brent’s confusion at the whole situation. God, she suddenly had the urge to drink something strong just to get through this whole case without strangling her girlfriend.

  
***

  
Oksana was… at a loss, so to speak.

The whole ride home, her girlfriend was silent, her facial expression dark, refusing to let Oksana touch her. Oksana was hurt at this rejection and she was never good at handling rejection. She refused to show her pain. If Eve would be stubborn, so would she. It’s not like she did this to hurt Eve, Oksana did it because she wanted to protect her.

Oksana’s face was stormy as they arrived at their home. Just thinking about how this house became her home made the hollow pain inside her chest bearable. It wasn’t about the house itself, but more how Eve accepted Oksana into her life with no questions asked. Oksana crashed into her life with her hands soaked with blood of the people she had murdered but Eve didn’t shrink away from it. Instead, Eve embraced it and soothed the hollow ache inside her chest. In the eyes of society, Oksana was a monster but in Eve’s perception, she was redeemable, someone worth saving.

“I’m going to sleep,” Eve’s voice was flat and exhaustion seeped through it.

“Aren’t we going to talk about this?”, Oksana asked. Eve’s hair fluttered as she whirled around to glower at Oksana.

“Now you wanted to talk about this?”, the older woman barked which made the assassin grit her teeth. It’s what they supposed to do right? Discuss about their disagreements?

“Did you even stop for a minute and reflect on what you did? Jesus, Oksana you stalked me for months! Did you ever consider that as vital information now that we are sharing home?!”, Eve continued.

“I was just trying to protect you, Eve. What do you want me to do? Reveal myself just like that? You stabbed me! I’m not even sure if you feel the same way!” Oksana said desperately.

“Well, you have no problem doing it at MI6! And that’s not the issue here, Oksana! You weren’t honest about it! You had time to tell me that. Instead you chose that moment, in front of my colleagues to PROUDLY CONFESS THAT YOU STALKED ME! Last night we were talking about trusting me, that I’ll be fine, that I can protect myself but NO, you just crashed into my work place, exposing yourself and announcing that you were ready to KILL everyone in sight! You injured two of my colleagues and god knows how lucky you are considering that you even threatened Carolyn!”, Eve ranted angrily.

“I WAS SCARED OKAY?!”, Oksana roared as tears started to linger around her eyelashes. She refused to cry, to show how scared she was for Eve. Oksana was supposed to be the protector, the one who was strong enough to receive the blows from the world. She had faced a lot of demons and she never shrank for anyone or anything. She feared nothing except… the risk of losing Eve.

Oksana continued, “I-I lost control, after I discovered that someone was threatening your life, all I wanted to do was to protect you. T-to hide you away. You’re all I have, Eve…I CAN’T—I REFUSE TO LOSE YOU!” Oksana blinked the tears away as she tried to grapple the emotion bursting out in her chest. She raked her fingers through her hair, as she desperately swallowed back the sob that was flooding in her throat. Bewilderment carved into the assassin’s face as she discovered that despite what everyone told her, she had feelings and Eve was the only one who can awaken them from their cold slumber within her heart.

“Well, I also refused to lose you, Oksana! That’s why I’m working hard to solve this case, to keep you away from harm and now you’re risking your life by exposing yourself!” Eve cried.

“I don’t care, Eve because there is nothing,” She whispered vehemently. “Nothing I wouldn’t risk for you,” Oksana’s hands snaked around Eve’s shoulder. Her hands tensed as she gripped her hard as if afraid that anytime Eve would be gone.

Eve’s voice finally broke when she got a clear look at the young woman’s troubled face. “I could have lost you, Oksana…”, Eve croaked.

“You won’t,” Oksana swore as she reached for Eve’s face to caress it. “I’m not going anywhere, I told you before, death couldn’t even get you out of this relationship.”

Eve sniffled as she let the tears fall. She chuckled, “God knows why I love you, you’re insufferable.” Eve ran her hands over Oksana’s collar to her chest, allowing herself to appreciate the snug leather jacket on her girlfriend.

“You love me?”, Oksana softly asked. As Eve raised her eyes to meet those golden orbs, she couldn’t help but melt at how vulnerable Oksana looked right then. Who would have thought that the woman on rampage a few hours ago badly needed reassurance from Eve? 

“Jesus, Oksana. Do you honestly think that I would willingly choose this chaos and insanity if I’m not in love with you?” Eve snorted but when she saw Oksana's raw vulnerability, she softened. “I love you,” Eve said, certainty echoed in her voice. “I am irrevocably in love with you, Oksana Astankova,”

“You’re not mad at me anymore?”, Oksana asked. Eve chuckled at Oksana’s childlike fear, god, she was so achingly adorable.

“No, as long as you know why I got angry at you,” Eve searched for her eyes. “You do know why I got mad right?”

Oksana’s lips trembled and like a child, she wiped the tears rolling in her cheeks with the back of her hand. “You’re mad because I was not honest with you.”

“Yes,” Eve reached out for the young woman’s face when another tear rolled down, wiping it with her thumbs. “And?”

Oksana tried to stop her sniffles but failed, tears blurred her eyes. “I shouldn’t have hurt your colleagues but I think they totally deserved it because I was just defending myself.” Eve glared at her words. “But yes, that’s wrong. I shouldn’t have kicked their butts and I shouldn’t have threatened your boss even though she totally threatened me first,” Eve sighed and shook her head in defeat.

Finally, Oksana rejoined ,“And I shouldn’t have risked my safety and I should have trusted that you’ll do the right thing.”

“Yes,” Eve smiled and breathed in a sigh of relief. It seemed that Oksana must have really understood their issues and was willing to admit her mistakes. She must be just as invested as Eve was just to make their relationship work.

“Can I kiss you now?”, Oksana whispered, like a child afraid of being scolded. She asked for Eve’s permission.

Eve laughed and nodded, emotion swept through her belly when Oksana slowly hovered her face to hers. “I don’t like it when you’re mad at me, I can’t stand it”, she said.

“I’m sorry, baby,” Eve whispered as she tiptoed and wrapped her arms around Oksana’s neck to offer her lips.

“I’m sorry too,” she murmured before capturing Eve’s lips gently to hers. Oksana circled her arms around Eve’s waist and deepened the kiss.

Warmth blossomed inside Oksana's belly when Eve slanted her lips over hers and opened then. The passion simmering just beneath her skin was never fully sated no matter how many times she tasted Eve. A moan escaped from Eve's throat and Oksana’s gut twisted at the sound of it.

Breathless, it took a lot of willpower from Oksana to pull away from Eve's demanding swollen lips. “I think we should stop,” she whispered breathlessly but her tongue languidly swiped Eve's lower lip, as if coaxing it for another taste.

“Hmmm…” Eve took a quick intake of breath when Oksana's hand wandered around the hem of her shirt. She could feel how her stomach clenched when the young woman gently traced languid patterns on her skin with her fingertips.

“That feels… good… Mmmmm...” Eve murmured and pressed her whole body further to Oksana’s lean figure, breathing her scent.

As she ached beneath Oksana's soft touch, Eve tugged open the leather jacket that was restraining Oksana's collarbone. Smoothing her crisp white shirt, she started to trail kisses along the young woman’s neck, lingering around the hollow of her throat, slowly making her way back to that sharp jaw.

Oksana took a shuddering breath, her golden eyes full of desire. “Eve, you’re killing me,” she whispered and then a moan escaped her mouth when Eve flicked a tongue along Oksana's earlobe.

Oksana leaned away, her eyes dazed at Eve's exploration, her voice husky as she spoke. “We don’t have to do this now, Eve,” she said, but her body clearly said otherwise when her hips shot forward when Eve’s hips grinded into hers.

“I want you to touch me, Oksana,” Eve said softly. The assassin swallowed hard when she saw Eve’s eyes dazed with unwavering desire.

“Are you sure?”, Oksana asked, drawing in a shaky breath as she placed her hands on the smooth skin of Eve’s stomach and fire stoked in her gut when Eve’s muscle rippled at her touch.

“I’ve been waiting for this my whole life,” Eve answered. It was the truth. Ever since their paths crossed, Eve always knew that the passion that was missing from her marriage wasn’t just about standard marital decay. They were always wrong for each other, had always been wrong for each other, and right now, with Oksana, everything felt right… like it was meant to be.

Like a switch had been flipped on, Oksana surged forward and kissed Eve hard, deep. Her lean arms snaked around Eve’s legs, encouraging her to wrap her legs around Oksana’s waist. Her breath uneven, Oksana pulled away, enough to say, “We should do this properly, it’s your first time with a woman.”

“God”, Eve moaned loudly when Oksana strode towards their bedroom as if she didn’t weigh anything. Desire pulsed wildly in Eve’s crotch at the thought of that sheer strength devouring her whole. Focusing on pleasuring Oksana, Eve ran her tongue over the expanse of her neck. The young woman gave a tiny gasp of surprise and her steps faltered when Eve sucked on that sensitive spot in her neck.

“Fuck…” Oksana fumbled, trying to open their bedroom. Using her shoulder, Oksana slammed it open but both of them didn’t give a damn as Oksana plunged towards their bed, Eve writhing beneath her.

Pulling away from her clinging girlfriend, Oksana took off her jacket, discarding it behind her. Eve’s eyes didn’t leave her body as Oksana pulled off her shirt, revealing glimpses of her black underwear, desperate to feel Eve’s burning skin to hers.

Eve’s yearning skyrocketed at the first sight of Oksana’s smooth and lean stomach. Fascinated and completely aroused, Eve spread her palm at it and swallowed hard when she saw how her abs clenched at her touch.

“Eve… I want to feel your skin,” Oksana whispered. Nodding, Eve reached for her blouse and she slowly unbuttoned it. It was amazing how her hand remained steady when the woman in her lap was watching her with hungry eyes. She could feel Oksana’s gaze burning her skin as Eve shed her blouse.

“You’re so beautiful, Eve,” Oksana whispered, her eyes burning a trail down Eve’s body as she took in the sharp angles of her collarbone, her small breasts covered by the black laced bra she had bought for Eve, and her slender hips. Oksana hesitantly raised a finger and brushed it over the ridges of Eve’s ribs.

As Eve trembled beneath her touch, Oksana gritted her teeth to stop herself, to be patient. Eve was different, she’s not a conquest to chase, not someone she should just fuck out of necessity. Eve was the love of her life. She might not be used to this emotion blooming inside her chest but Oksana wanted to convey how much she wanted Eve not just for her body. Oksana wanted to taste that soul—the soul that saved her from her own darkness.

Oksana swirled her fingertips just above the waistband of Eve’s slacks and she dipped her head to kiss the hollows of her hips. Her lover arched her back and gasped in pleasure as she continued to skim her lips across her stomach.

“Oksana,” Eve was panting, her hands running through her blonde-honey hair, curling, pulling Oksana against her. “I want to feel all of you, please,” Eve was on the verge of begging. She felt the young woman nod against her skin before pulling herself off Eve.

They slowly undressed each other, whispering breathless encouragement as they slowly shed the remaining barriers from their body. The sight of Oksana left Eve breathless and she felt an intense ache in her nether regions. Eve reached out with one hand and ran it over and Oksana’s broad shoulder down to her chest, cupping a soft breast and lightly stroking her thumb over the already pebbled nipple.

Oksana moaned deliciously. “That’s so good baby,” she said. Shifting Eve onto her lap, Oksana ducked down her to her breast and her mouth, moist and hot, sucked Eve’s nipple shamelessly.

“Jesus… Oksana…,” Eve was so lost in the barrage of sensation as Oksana’s mouth and hands roamed around her body.

“You’re so good,” Oksana whispered in a husky Russian accent. “I’d knew you’d feel so good.”

“Oksana, please,” Eve’s voice was rough with need. She ground her hips towards Oksana to lessen the building need in her crotch. Oksana took her time, her hands stroking lovingly, her hands and teeth playing with each of Eve’s breasts. Eve moaned loudly. Eve gasped when the young woman’s lips and tongue swiped across her thighs, igniting fires through her skin.

As Oksana’s fingers slowly filled her, Eve trembled and opened her legs further. Eve moaned loudly and she snaked her fingers through that soft blonde hair and tugged it as Oksana swiped her tongue across her clit. “Fuck, oh god, harder baby, don’t stop!” Eve’s shout echoed around the room as she watched Oksana devour her wetness. She could feel herself coming, the sensation overflowing inside of her pelvis as it clenched, clamping onto that hot tongue and mouth that was pleasuring her. On cue, Eve tensed and arched her back, tremors of orgasm wracked her body.

Slowly guiding her down, Oksana held her hips and made her way up, leaving a trail of kisses on her body. She braced her hand above Eve’s head as she watch the older woman pant, face still flushed from pleasure she received. “Was it good?” Oksana asked expectantly, shamelessly asking for reassurance.

Eve let out a strangled laugh and looked at the young woman with a slight dazed expression. Looking at Oksana’s face, Eve stroked her cheek gently. “Yes. It’s very good,” Oksana smiled contentedly and released a relieved sigh.

“Now, it’s my turn,” Eve said. Oksana’s eyes widened in surprise when Eve reversed their position.

“Oooh, I think I like this bossy side of yours, Eve.” Oksana said in a playful voice, but her voice turned into a whimper when Eve traced her upper lip with her tongue. The older woman moaned when she tasted herself from Oksana’s mouth. It surprised Eve that she found it erotic and a wave of heat rolled in her belly at the thought of tasting Oksana.

Lowering her head, Eve reveled when Oksana gasped loudly when she sucked her nipple hard, rolling the pebbled nipple in her mouth, licking, softly biting it. She spent a good amount of time discovering the parts where Oksana was most responsive and exploring every inch of that gorgeous body, heading directly to her crotch.

The moment Eve licked Oksana’s wetness, her hips shot forward and she grabbed Eve’s head, guiding, encouraging her, hissing, and releasing intoxicating breathy moans. “Eve, fuck, Eve, it’s so good. Don’t stop, oh god!”, she cried.

Eve circled her arms to Oksana’s writhing hips, when she looked up, she saw Oksana’s broken expression, mouth hanging, panting and her face flushed with heat. Not breaking their eye contact, Eve lowered her mouth and licked her wetness languidly, exploring, savoring Oksana’s desire for her. As Oksana’s hips shuddered, a sign of an oncoming orgasm, Eve quickly plunged her tongue inside her hot flesh and used her thumb to flick her swollen clit which pushed Oksana to come. The young woman’s broken voice reverberated around their room as she came, long and hard.

After a few minutes, their winded breath was the only thing that could be heard inside the room. Oksana spoke first. “I thought were new at this,” she teased. Eve chuckled. She placed a wet-open mouthed kiss between Oksana’s legs that made her twitch before settling beside her.

Eve propped her head up on her hand as she faced Oksana. The young woman sighed contentedly when Eve ran a finger to her lean arms down on her taunt stomach. “Eeh… I think I’m not good at this,” she said.

“What? No, Eve. That’s not true at—“Oksana came on to a full stop when she saw Eve’s mischievous grin.

“I think I need more practice,” Eve drawled as she traced random circles on the skin of Oksana’s broad shoulders.

“Oh?” To Oksana’s surprise, Eve gave her a slight shove that sent her sprawling to her back. Her eyes gleamed with lust when she saw the young woman noticeably swallowed hard as she gazed at her naked body.

Climbing to Oksana’s naked hips, Eve regarded her lazily with hunger in her eyes. “A few more rounds, you know, just to practice,” She murmured huskily. “To see if I could keep up with your skilled stamina” 

Oksana managed to grin before her eyes rolled back in ecstasy, “FUCK...”, she cried.

  
***

 **A/N:**  
**I CAN’T BELIEVE I WROTE THIS AT WORK. YEAH. DURING OFFICE HOURS**.

 

**EVERYBODY SAY THANK YOU TO MY EVER HERO ATLPanther! IMAGINE, READING THIS WITHOUT HER EDITING SKILLS. Y'ALL GONNA HAVE A MASSIVE INFLUX OF NOSEBLEED!**

 

 


	9. And The Battle Begins

“GOOD MORNING!” Oksana yelled as she swung open the door of the conference room. Lance accidentally spilled his coffee making him yelp in pain as it poured to his pants. Beside him, Brent erupted from his seat but he snickered when he saw how the stain started to spread in Lance slacks.

“Morning,” Elena was the only one who acknowledged the cheery assassin. Beside her, Kenny stiffened and his eyes widened when he saw the assassin strode inside with a spring in her steps. Oksana was wearing a casual black blouse with a royal blue blazer, blue skinny jeans, and a black Dr. Martens. Her hair was neatly pulled into a single ponytail, her ears adorned with diamond earrings, she was wearing a light makeup but her lipstick was dark red, accentuating her pouty lips. She looked alert but… contented.

Behind her, Eve looked bushed. Her eyes rolled at Oksana’s ecstatic demeanor, sighing deeply as she threw her bag at one of the chairs in the room. She also was wearing a blouse but it was crisp white and her blazer was black. Unlike Oksana, she was wearing fitted black slacks and a familiar flats?

Elena spits her coffee as she realized what Eve was wearing. "Is that a Calvin Klein?!"

“A what?” Eve took a step back when Elena stalked her and grabbed her leg.

“HOLY FUCK! IT IS CALVIN KLEIN?!” Elena exclaimed and Eve badly wanted to snatch back her leg when Elena’s eyes shone like a madman. “You don’t know?!” At Eve’s puzzled look, Elena exhaled heavily.

“This costs thousands of pounds!” Elena said with wide eyes, and Eve honestly thought for a sec that her friend might have peed a little but her own eyes gauge out when it finally sunk to her how much she was wearing.

“Jesus, Oksana are you insane?!” Eve hastily pulled back her leg and almost in the process of taking off her shoes. “I can’t take this! Take this back! I can’t walk around with these shoes?! Do you want me to get robbed??!”

“Sorry, darling but it doesn’t go with my outfit,” When Eve gritted her teeth, Oksana pretended that she didn’t notice her girlfriend’s exasperation at her reply.

“Are you planning to run around barefooted? It's just shoes, Eve, besides I'm going to accompany so you don't have to worry getting rob,” Oksana said confidently, brushing off Eve’s concern.

Sensing her defeat, Eve just sighed as she peeked at her feet, given that it really looks good on her but nonetheless, still too expensive for her taste.

Eve amusingly eyed Elena who was still crouching and making heart eyes at her shoes. “Do you need a moment or two with my shoes?” Beside her, Oksana hooted with laughter while Elena just scowled at her.

Oksana was still laughing when the door opened. With an eyebrow raised, Carolyn looked at her agents one by one with a cool gaze. “I was half expecting that by the time I get back, someone would bloody scream murder while running away at the hallway.”

Everyone became silent while they nervously observed the assassin for her reaction but surprisingly, Oksana just shrugged. “Is that Calvin Klein?” At Carolyn’s impressed tone of voice, Eve groaned out loud. Jesus, they should be trying to solve the damn case, not obsess with her girlfriend’s latest fashion tips!

When Oksana eagerly raised a finger like she was about to add something, probably to stoke fire to their interest at Eve’s wardrobe but Eve mustered her frostiest glare. Oksana visibly winced and like a puppy, she smiled sheepishly.

“Can everyone stop eye-fucking my shoes?”

"There, there, that's not a really bad thing at all, right?” Eve scowled at Oksana’s entertained voice.

“Stingy bitch,” Elena muttered lightheartedly, releasing a deep sigh before pushing herself up.

One by one the whole team sat at the conference table, pulling out their own notebook for the briefing. Oksana sat heavily beside her, she slumped in her seat and threw a guiltless smile when Lance sat in front of her.

Oksana finally got a good look at him, she could see a few visible cuts around his face and his nose was swollen. Beside him, Brent also looked beaten but compared to Lance, his wounds looked slightly better. She bit back her glee when Lance looked at her with daggers in his eyes, Oksana was really looking forward poking and make fun of the guy who tried to put his hand on her girlfriend.

“So, I talked to our bosses and made a deal for you, Villanelle,” Next to her, Eve noticeably become rigid.

Oksana knew Eve was troubled for her safety, she clearly stated it last night when they were having their spat. She tried to assure Eve that she will be fine but even in her sleep, Eve was bothered. She was restless in her slumber, rolling and sighing deeply in the middle of the night but if Oksana would be honest, she was distressed at Eve’s safety than hers. Oksana can defend herself, she was trained for that—she survived alone for years and her skills were unrivaled, everyone knew that. In fact, death has been a part of her everyday life, she even welcomed death a few times over the years but it was completely different when it was someone she truly cared about. It was terrifying and fear has always been an out of the bound concept for the assassin.

“I managed to keep your identity off from the MI6 to avoid any paper trails. Only the high ranking officials know that you are with us. They are willing to employ you in exchange for apprehending this serial killer, alive and ASAP." Carolyn continued, snapping Oksana out of her reverie. The assassin grasps Eve's hand for assurance.

“That’s all? How did you manage to keep her name out?” Eve asked suspicion etched in her face.

“Yes, Eve. In exchange for this serial killer, we've been chasing,"

“Is there a movement from The Twelve?” The assassin asked which made Carolyn raise an eyebrow at her perceptiveness. She always thought that Villanelle’s skill had always been a bit exaggerated but seeing her cleverness in action might have changed her personal opinion of the assassin.

“Correct. They are starting to suspect that you are, in fact, alive and well but thanks to your… notable arrival, I managed to create a false leak of Intel in time to your old employers that it wasn’t you, that were killing these women.” A pity flashed through Carolyn's face when she saw Eve's alarm. "This will give you more time to arrest this killer but I’m afraid that despite my mole in your old organization, it won’t stop them from doing their own investigation. We need to arrest this killer as soon as possible, to avoid revealing Villanelle’s location.”

“I didn’t know MI6 wanted to recruit me this bad,” Oksana responded frankly, not at least disturbed by the danger she was facing.

“It’s either recruit you or go against you,” Carolyn leaned, her elbows at the table as she linked her fingers to face the assassin. “And we all know the outcome of our war against you,” Eve blenched at Carolyn’s accusation. Oksana managed to reign in her naughtiness, it would be fun to aggravate everyone but after their discussion last night, Eve probably wouldn’t appreciate her cheekiness in their current situation.

She smiled sheepishly and to everyone’s disbelief, Oksana said. “Sorry,”

Regaining her composure, Carolyn cleared her throat. “That said, the MI6 offered immunity and a new identity for you. In exchange, the team needs to arrest this killer and after this assignment, we are hiring you to work for MI6. Perhaps, a consultant. We—“

“I’m expensive,” The assassin interrupted her which made Carolyn narrow her eyes at the woman who was currently playing her girlfriend’s hand. Eve paled at Oksana’s words, she quickly pulled her hand from that playful grip and before she could utter a word, her boss countered.

“You will be paid according to your skills and more importantly, you finally got what you wanted. Am I right?” To their utter wonder, the assassin grinned at Carolyn’s retort.

“That I got,” She murmured silkily in her Russian accent as she took back Eve’s hand to hold it gently.

“Christ,” Elena exclaimed when Eve flushed brightly, clearly being betrayed by her own body’s reaction.

“Now that it’s settled, let’s review what we got. Kenny?” Caught off guard, a panic slithered at his face when everyone looked at him for answers. He fumbled for his notebook to open it and he cleared his throat before talking. “I got the results of his voice and he’s not in our database,” Gaining his confidence, he continued. “We managed to file the residential addresses and pharmacies around the Paris station. I eliminated the ones that declared that has two or more residents living in it. I printed it all for you to check,”

“That’s good,” Eve said. “Did you check if the suspect used a voice changer? Or was it his natural voice?”

“It was his voice,” He confirmed.

“Well, that was stupid,” Oksana muttered, as she slumped further in her seat, leaned back her head and exhaled loudly, as if bored.

“What about the CCTV files that Brent got?” She asked, ignoring her girlfriend.

“I got it, it shows nothing suspicious near the crime scene but maybe we could ask for the result of tire tracks? So we could compare it to the ones that got caught in CCTV’s,” Kenny suggested as he roamed his eyes at his teammates.

“Okay, I’ll follow it up,” Elena volunteered, noting it in her notebook.

"Thank you, Elena. Also, please ask them if they found any footprints around the DB, we might get lucky and get his shoe size," Elena nodded.

After scratching furiously in her notebook, Elena added. “I already checked the things that you asked me to, everyone that’s connected to Aki doesn’t have any criminal records. Also, none of them have any medical or military background,”

Eve hummed. “It just consolidates the fact that Aki recently just met this man. Her parents and her boyfriend were the only ones who knew him. A random killing. What about the victims’ personal items? Any luck?”

“Yes, the victims were missing a basket of fruit, take outs, groceries and a wallet,” Carolyn answered. “It’s a bit weird that he actually left the wallet and ID’s,”

“You mean he only took the money in it?” It doesn’t make any sense, Eve sat back heavily to her seat and bit her thumb. Why would he leave her ID?

“It seems that your serial killer badly needs some spare change,” Everyone’s attention snapped at the assassin who was slouching in her seat, almost on the verge of falling from it.

“What do you mean?” Eyebrows furrowed, Eve asked her.

“He took all those things not because he wanted to, but he needed it. He might be tightfisted in terms of money or he badly needs money,” Still slumping at her seat, Oksana sighed deeply when she noticed their confused gazes.

“You mean he’s poor?” Eve sufficed, realization finally dawning to her.

“Yeeeees,” Oksana suddenly sat straight, eyes wide, surprising everyone except Eve and Carolyn. “I can’t believe he’s stupid enough not to use his talent for money,” She muttered patronizingly while shaking her head.

“You mean like you?” Lance irritatingly jabbed at the arrogant assassin.

“Lance,” Eve warned him.

“Well, yes.” Oksana waved off his anger which infuriated him further. “The only difference between me and this serial killer was, he’s stupid to target one of the most brilliant agents from MI6 that has an assassin girlfriend.”

“At least he’s not doing it for money,” He muttered.

“Do you badly WANT round two, Lance?” Elena snapped at him. He was starting to annoy everyone with his constant insult to Villanelle. They understand where he’s coming from but now that Villanelle’s working for MI6, he should separate his personal issues from their work.

“You mean when you killed those civilians in Afghanistan, that’s for free?” At Oksana’s words, everyone fell silent, Lance back snapped rigidly and he blanched.

“Wha— how did you know that?” The man stuttered, face pale with shock.

“You know, Lance,” Oksana drawled in her Russian accent, a cold smile glued to her angelic face as she spoke. “We both killed a lot of people, even innocent ones. The only difference was you killed for your country but we both accepted money from it. So you better get off your high horse and stop acting like you’re above me,” She felt Eve’s grip at her thighs when Oksana leaned towards the table and took one long good at him. “You don’t want me to get mad do you?”

“Lance,” Carolyn shattered the silence that cloaked the room, she threw a warning look at Oksana before she spoke. “All of your personal jabs at Villanelle are really starting to get tiresome.” Lance visibly drew a shuddering breath but remained silent. “I like you but your constant rant is starting to affect our investigation. If Villanelle’s presence bothers you that much, I am willing to take you off the case without any repercussions to your career,”

He bit back his resentment at Carolyn’s words. He knew he was being unreasonable with the assassin but working with a contract killer goes against his very nature. He hated to admit but Villanelle was probably right about him. They both killed and profited from it, the assassin didn't shy away from her sins but he, on the other hand, was a hypocrite. Swallowing his pride and shame, Lance lowered his head and said. "I apologize. It won't happen again,"

“See that it won’t,” Carolyn chastised him.

“Sorry, Villanelleeee,” Oksana sang but beside her, Eve elbowed her. “What? He should also apologize to me, he’s being rude and unprofessional,” At Eve’s glare, Oksana pouted and collapsed back in her chair.

“Moving on,” Carolyn raised an eyebrow at Villanelle’s pouting face. “Why do you think he targeted  
Eve?”

For a split second, the assassin's face darkened but as soon as it showed, it was gone and her face smoothed but her eyes remained cold. “Because he finally got the attention that he wants,”

“You mean my attention?” Eve clarified it. Oksana rolled her chair to face her girlfriend and Eve could see that despite trying to hide it, the fury shone in those golden orbs.

“Probably?”

“What? You’re not sure?” Eve pressed her.

“If he really wants your attention he should have done this message with his first victim,” Oksana clarified.

“Of course…” Eve murmured. “Of course, you’re right,”

“You are not his priority but rather, a bystander, maybe because you fit on the profile of his victim,”

“There’s another target?” Carolyn probed.

“Most probably,” Oksana casually replied. "As I said to Eve, you need to go back to the first victim to understand what goes through his mind, it’s your key to break this case,”

“But we already went through all the evidence that we had in it, we have no more strings to tug,” Kenny interjected.

“Then you have to comb every evidence in your recent victim to see if he finally made some mistakes,” Oksana proposed to them. Everyone became somber at her words while Oksana shrugged it off.

“What the fuck happened in Paris?” Eve exasperatingly ran her fingers through her hair. What were they missing?

“Well, the only thing I know was you stabbed me in Paris,” Oksana teased her girlfriend as she rolled her chair away from the table.

“When will you let that go? Jeez,” Eve bit back a smile when the younger woman used her chair to roll around the conference room, muttering childish noises as she sailed past everyone.

“What about the CCTV’s?” Brent suggested as he warily observed the assassin when she rolled past behind him.

“We still need to check the results of the tire tracks,” Brent shook his head when Elena answered.

“I mean the CCTV’s around the train stations,”

“Oh, yeah. I already sent it to Eve yesterday,” Kenny sufficed as he looked Eve for answers.

She completely forgot to check the CCTV files. Crap, Eve grimaced internally. “Sorry, I forgot to check it last night,”

“You have forgotten it?” Carolyn clarified as if Eve's negligence sounded so foreign to her.

“Yes, she have,” Carolyn’s gaze followed Oksana when she answered her and before Eve could even manage to stop her, the assassin answered, “We stayed up all night having seeex,” As the assassin glided past them one by one, Oksana’s words echoed inside the conference room and Eve had no choice but to hide her face in her hands and groaned out loud in embarrassment.

Alongside her, Elena didn’t bother to disguise her pure glee. “No wonder you looked smashed,” Oksana’s unrestrained laughter followed her as she continued to sail pass through them.

“If both of you don’t stop, I’ll smash something alright,” Eve said through her gritted teeth. As the wind whipped behind her, Oksana suddenly stopped, leaned to Eve and spoke with a seductive Russian accent.

“Well, now, I’m excited,” Elena’s laughter erupted around them while Kenny blushed furiously at their exchange of words. Eve slapped Oksana’s hand that started to toy the lapel of her blazer.

Clearing her throat, Carolyn eyed them making them halt from their banter. As usual, Oksana smiled sheepishly before pushing herself up, she rolled her chair to face and straddle it. Eve willed her face to return to its normal temperature while Elena swallowed her laugh. Before speaking, Carolyn shook her head in defeat. 

“Kenny, would you please play it now for us?” Nodding, Kenny stood up and strode towards his work station. Rummaging around the projector, he turned it on and after a few clicks, the first CCTV rolled.

They were silent for a few minutes as they watched it carefully. The victims were caught in it but as far as Eve can tell, there’s nothing suspicious about it. It seems that watching this video was fruitless after all. When she was about to talk, Oksana suddenly spoke.

“Stop,” Startled, Kenny fumbled for his mouse to stop the video.

“What? What did you see?” Eve’s eyes narrowed as she scanned the video.

"Look at that man, he was wearing an ugly black baggy jacket. Enlarge it and play it slowly.” Nodding at Oksana’s instruction, Kenny’s fingers flew on the keyboard. The screen shifted, and then another tab popped out separating the portion that she requested.

“See that? He was following her,” All of them leaned towards the monitor as they try to catch what Oksana was trying to point out.

“How did you know? He wasn’t even directly behind her,” Brent’s voice full of questions.

“Look how he was unconsciously mimicking her,” At their confused looks, the assassin sighed heavily, muttering that closely sounded like, _“good thing you’re all not considering to be an assassin,”_

“Spit it out,” Elena jostled her, suddenly forgetting that Oksana was a deadly assassin. The young woman glared at her for a second before relenting.

“When you are following someone, you are unconsciously mimicking their movements. Watch how he does that in all videos,”

“He’s in them? All of it?” Lance finally broke his silence. How could they even miss it? Even him? He was military trained for god sake.

“Always the tone of surprise,” Oksana tutted. “Look how he paused as he observed his targets and look how he hides his face from the cameras,” The video played out and they watched the man managed to conceal his face all throughout the video. “He knows the loopholes of the surveillance around the station and judging by the way he moved, he must have spent a lot of time studying the layout of the train stations,”

“Son of a bitch,” Eve muttered to herself.

“Continue the vid,” Oksana ordered and everyone around her remained silent. The time ran under the screen, noting the time difference from where he was first sighted and the time he came back, it was around thirty to forty-five minutes. "He took his time raping them," Oksana mused.

“Look at him,” Oksana said as her eyes ran at the figure in the video. “There’s a skip in his step, he’s so pleased with himself, probably congratulating himself for a job well done,” She murmured as she watched the man hungrily. "I would love to end him," Her golden eyes flat, void of emotion but her veins were pounding with rage. This was the man who wanted to hurt Eve if he thought he could lay a hand to what's hers, he got another thing coming.

“Oksana,” Eve’s concerned voice snapped Oksana from her murderous thoughts. Eve gently laid a hand to her fist, Oksana hasn't noticed that she's gripping her chair hard, drawing blood to her fingers.

Oksana breathed in deeply, trying to calm her boiling blood. “Sorry baby,” She whispered softly before laying her forehead to Eve’s hand that gently held hers and drew a shuddering breath.

Sensing that her girlfriend needed time to gather herself, Eve reached out to run her fingers through Oksana's hair, scratching her scalp. They saw how Oksana's demeanor changed when she saw the killer and for a second, they got a glimpse of that cold-blooded assassin. Everyone around her became rigid when Oksana murmured softly that she will kill him but Eve wasn’t at least frightened because she knew Oksana, she would never hurt Eve. Oksana loves her.

 “Kenny,” Eve cleared the hoarseness of her voice. “Enhance his image and try to get his approximated height and weight and compare it to the video from the Paris station if he would get off from it, just to confirm if that’s his home base,”

“Elena, whatever Kenny learns, compare it to Aki’s acquaintances, cross reference anything. Follow up the tire tracks and footprints if they're already done with it,” Both of them nodded.

"Brent, get back to the previous crime scenes and talk to any possible witnesses that could have notice someone, anyone with a basket of fruits, a pink thermos, takeouts, and groceries. People might not notice him before because he’s just an ordinary old man but suddenly, he has a pink thermos? Basket of fruits? People might remember him now that he has a bloody pink thermos. Talk to the vendors, homeless, anyone that’s usually in the area at the time of death. Try the newsstands, coffee shops, delis, canvass the area, and see if anyone suspicious stopped by, someone would remember him and if someone finally surfaced call me as soon as possible so we could arrange for a sketch artist, ”

“On it,” He answered.

“Lance, you’re with us. We’re going to check the addresses that Kenny printed out for us. If it’s too many, you’re going to be on your own so we could tackle it all at once.  Ask for CCTV files in the pharmacies for the last six—no, eight months and also ask for the list of customers, who bought diazepam, if you encountered any problem, used the MI6 card to get through the legalities.”

“What about the residential addresses? We don’t have any legal warrants to talk to them yet,” Lance reminded her.

“We could at least check out around the area, ask a little if they know who resides there. We won’t engage or we'll spook him," All of them watched how Eve's eyes turned fiery and determined. "Remember, he is a coward but a dangerous one if cornered. Lance, Brent, whatever happens, don't engage. We still need to tie him at the scene of the crime and we need evidence to do that,"

“Copy,” Brent assured her.

"Don't forget, you are also a target here," Lance reminded Eve. Like a cat disturbed in her sleep, next to Eve, Oksana stirred, slowly raised her head to look at him dead in the eye. He can't help but shiver at her chilling stare and he wondered if the people that this woman killed also felt the same way once she fixed those golden-green eyes at them like a predator aiming for a kill.

The temperature around the room dropped when Oksana smiled. “And I would be ready for him,” She hummed silkily in her deadly accent.

"Just make sure, he's in one piece so we could arrest him," Carolyn interjected. Judging, by the way, Oksana's face lit, Eve felt a little sorry for the killer. She was just hoping that once the time comes, she could control her girlfriend before she could do permanent damage to the killer.

One by one, everyone stood up and the sounds of scraping chairs echoed around the room. Kenny quickly handed Eve the printouts and murmured a little instruction before he let the team go. Carolyn nodded to them as Lance, Eve and Oksana bid their goodbye.

“It’s a little cold,” Oksana commented as she followed Eve and Lance out of the building. Eve did try to hide her shiver but Oksana quickly noticed it, hell her cat-like eyes never left Eve as soon as they got out of the building.

Oksana strode towards her girlfriend as she slowly pulled out a spare scarf from her blazer, although a little surprised when Oksana pulled her gently aside, her heart melted when Oksana wrapped red thick wool of scarf around her neck. "I don't want you shivering," It was murmured gently with a hint of Russian accent and it made Eve want to lay her head at that sturdy but soft chest. God, it always amazes Eve how much she loves Oksana.

A loud clearing of a throat broke their attention from each other, both women glanced at Lance who was clearly embarrassed at what he witnessed. "So I'm still going to drive?" Eve nodded and Oksana quickly moved to open the door at the passenger seat. Gesturing for Eve to sit, the agent lowered her head and settled inside. 

After closing the door, Oksana settled on the passenger seat at the front beside the driver and after a few minutes, they’re already at the highway, zooming across the road.

Eve observed the two of them for a few minutes, sensing that they’re not going out to murder each other soon, Eve decided to concentrate on her notes. Eve managed to catch up with only the sound of the radio echoing inside the car but a humming voice took her attention, frowning and confused, Eve leaned towards the seat in front of her.

“Are you singing?” A bubble of laughter rose in her throat when she caught Oksana mumbling in the tune of the song, her face crumpled as if she was singing with emotions.

Hastily smoothing her face, Oksana pouted at her chuckling girlfriend. “What? I like the song, I’m not an uncultured swine, Eve,”

Eve only raised an eyebrow at her while trying to smother her amusement. "Listen to your heart? Really?”

“Yeah, it was my song for you when you’re still with mustache man,” Oksana looked pleased with herself.

“Well, it’s suitable,” Eve knew it was going to annoy her girlfriend but god, Oksana was so adorable to poke at especially when she’s jealous. “Niko loves that song,”

Eve managed a strangled laugh when Oksana’s face quickly dropped into a scowl, almost on the verge of snarling. Watching the interaction between the couple, Lance chuckled to himself, he reached out for the radio and turned up the volume.

At the corner of his eye, he could see Oksana look daggers at him while Eve was trying to stop herself from erupting in laughter. Sensing that the assassin wouldn’t let it go unless he acknowledged her, he gave Oksana a wide smile of innocence.

“Turn this shit off,” Eve finally lost it when she saw Oksana’s sullen and pouting face, she laughed out loud while Lance snickered as he turned the stirring wheel to make a turn.

“No, I like it,” He said grinning with satisfaction as he watched the woman who butchered him last night sulk in annoyance. They are now even, he mused.

***

**A/N:**

**A big thanks to ATLPanther for editing my work! Go ahead and read some of her works!**

**That scene was a gem so I can’t resist using an adorable jealous Oksana. How was it so far?**


	10. Ambush Predator

Eve’s eyes flared up with impatience when the pharmacist asked for a warrant. She knew they had every right to ask for one, but for fuck sake, this is a homicide investigation! Can they at least show a little remorse or pity for the victims every time they block her?

“May I talk to your manager, please?”, Eve asked. Oksana could barely hear it from Eve’s gritted teeth. She remained silent alongside her seething girlfriend and the assassin bit her lip to stop herself from smiling when the pharmacist signaled for them to wait a second, before attending to another customer.

“Stop looking murderous, you’re going to scare the customers,” Oksana teased her but quickly clamped her mouth to stifle her laughter when Eve glowered at her.

“We’ve been here for thirty minutes and I’m really feeling murderous right now,” Eve hissed through her clenched jaw.

“Imagine the irony if I was the one who would arrest you and report to Carolyn that you strangled someone during our invest—OW,” Oksana winced when Eve’s elbow connected to her stomach.

“That actually hurt,” the young woman whined childishly while rubbing where Eve’s elbow connected. “Good thing you’re not holding a knife,” she muttered but quickly averted her eyes when Eve growled at her.

Oksana absent-mindedly rubbed her stomach while Eve trembled with unrestrained frustration as they watched the pharmacist attend to their customer. It felt like hours before the customer finally decided to leave but when another customer rang at the door, Eve cursed loudly, muttering that she finally had enough. Oksana pulled her back, winked impishly to her before stalking towards the pharmacist.

“ _Hello, Mademoiselles_ ,” Oksana said with an alluring French accent which made the customer and the pharmacist blink at her in surprise. “I was wondering if we could talk to your manager. Please tell him that MI6 wanted to have some words with him regarding the murder around this area.” On cue the customer took a step back, looking apprehensively at them.

“Madam”, the pharmacist whispered. A wild panic crossed through the pharmacist’s eyes when she pinned Oksana with a desperate stare. “If you could wait for a minute, I really need to attend to our customers—,”

“Oh, well, I think it could wait,” Oksana visibly grimaced. She pretended to be upset as she gave both of them an awkward smile. “I just don’t want people to panic since the crime scene was nearby.”

Oksana heard Eve snort a laugh behind her when the customer threw Oksana a terrified look. And with one last push, Oksana uttered in a nervous voice, “And the serial killer definitely has a type, I tell you!” She leaned in, eyes wide and whispered conspiratorially. “HE’S INTO BRUNETTES!”

“Uhmm… I think I need to go now”, the customer murmured in fright. Oksana almost slipped out of her character when the customer reflexively reached out for her black hair, face pale. She almost ran into one of the stalls as she jerked away, rattled at their news.

When Oksana glanced back at the glaring pharmacist, she gave the woman her usual shrug, armed with an innocent smile. “Fine,” The woman snapped at her. The assassin quickly took a step back when she was almost hit by the pharmacist’s ponytail as it whipped around when she strode away from them.

“Always so charming”, Eve drawled, a hint of amusement in her voice as she stood beside her. Oksana grinned at her girlfriend.

“So you would rather watch me flirt?”, Oksana teased. Her heart skipped a beat when Eve narrowed her eyes at her. A tingling anticipation ran through her spine at Eve’s evident jealousy.

“I should have asked for handcuffs”, Eve muttered as she glared at her smirking girlfriend.

“Hush, **_baby_** ”, Oksana whispered with a Russian twang. A flush of red crept up Eve’s neck. “Your possessiveness excites me, but we must be professional,” she cooed before having to quickly dodge Eve’s elbow, laughing under her breath at Eve’s obvious exasperation.

Before Eve could open her mouth for a retort, a man wearing a shirt inscribed with the name of the pharmacy stepped out the room behind the counter. “Welcome, you were looking for the manager? How may I help you?”

“We are from MI6, we need information,” Eve started. Both women raised their ID’s while confusion registered at his face.

“What kind of information?”, he asked.

“We need the CCTV files of your shop dated from nine months ago to now”, Eve stated.

“Madam, that’s a little difficult to give you without a warrant—,” he began, but Eve cut him off.

“Look, Sir, we are investigating a serial killer here and as per investigation, there might be a chance that he’s a frequent customer here. Your **_associate_** here,” Eve said through gritted teeth that made Oksana chuckle to herself as she observed her girlfriend intimidate the hell out of them. Oksana must admit to herself, this side of Eve turned her on. “Made us wait for half an hour when you could be cooperative.”

“Miss, our customers are entitled to privacy—,” he said apologetically.

Eve cut him off again, saying, “Aki Chen, those other victims and Aika Huang was entitled to privacy but someone raped them, stabbed them and dumped them in streets like a butchered pigs. The killer pretty much violated theirs. Do you really want that to happen to your customers? To her?” Eve hissed as she jerked her head towards the pharmacist who turned white in shock. Both of them became silent which infuriated Eve further.

“If you really want a warrant, I’ll concede but I promise you, it’ll occupy this shops’ time for hours or maybe days and while we do that, my partner here would do what your associate witnessed a while ago and I swear to you, you’ll lose every single customer that will enter this pharmacy”, Eve warned. Oksana diligently smiled widely at them when Eve mentioned her name.

The mention of losing potential profits snapped the two of them out of their temporary shock. The manager took a shuddering breath before nodding to them. “I trust that you’ll keep this between us”, he said, searching Eve’s eyes for confirmation of this.

Unable to disguise her disgust, Eve just rolled her eyes at him when he scrambled to the room in the back. Oksana roamed around the pharmacy, testing some of the products, sniffing a few testers of perfume while Eve remained where she stood while tapping her feet impatiently.

“Do you think he bought something here?”, Oksana’s voice echoed while she inspected the lotion from the rack.

“He could’ve bought some stuff here,” Eve answered Oksana without looking at her. “It’s the nearest pharmacy around the residential area here in Paris Station. We just need collect the CCTV files around the area so we could pinpoint where he could have bought his tranqs and if we’re lucky, we might have even gotten his face.”

Something about the lotion made Oksana grimace. “That would be very stupid of him if that happens,” Oksana replied. Shrugging to herself, Oksana tossed the lotion back onto the rack. The pharmacists threw a dirty look at her. Ignoring the glare, Oksana strode back to Eve when the man finally emerged from the back room.

The manager came back with a disc. “Here”, he said, handing it over to Eve.

“We’ll be back once we’ve studied it”, Eve said, taking the disc and slipping it inside her bag. “Do you have a customer list we can see? Or can we trace a purchase?”

“If it was brought through card, we still have the receipts but if its cash, we can’t,” the pharmacist answered.

Eve nodded. “Do you recall anyone who bought diazepam here?”

The manager automatically shook his head. “I rarely interact with customers, I’m usually in the back. I’m in charge of the deliveries and inventories of our medicines”, he shot a questioning look at his pharmacist who became pensive.

“I’m sorry but I barely remember our customers,” she answered, her face apologetic.

“Please recall if you had a customer, a man, around thirty to forty five years old? Looks harmless?”, Eve probed, and then huffed when the pharmacist shook her head.

“I need more information that, miss. Half of our customers meet that description,” she replied.

“Anyone who had a thermos? With **_flamingos_** on it?”, Oksana asked. It sounded a little odd but adorable the way Oksana fumbled with the word “flamingos”. The woman was silent for a moment and all of them let her stew for a minute.

After a few seconds, her face lightened and she spoke. “Yes, yes, I remember him…”, she began thoughtfully. It took a lot of effort to stop herself from shaking the woman in front of her and Eve managed to contain her excitement. Biting her lower lip, Eve shot a quick glance of gratitude to her girlfriend who had asked the right question.

“I think he was wearing a baggy black wind breaker and his face was covered”, the pharmacist continued.

“What do you mean covered?”, Eve asked. Her mood dropped instantly at her statement.

“He was wearing a face mask, I think. Covering half of his face. All I saw were his eyes. They were hazel, I think”, the pharmacist answered.

“What about his accent? Did he sound Parisian?”, Oksana interjected.

“Now that you mentioned it… he doesn’t sound like he’s from around here…” Biting her lower lip, the pharmacist glanced at Eve, her eyebrows wrinkled with concentration. “He does sound a bit like you but not totally like you,”

“Me?”, Eve asked, surprised.

“ _Oui, oui_ ”, the pharmacist confirmed.

“A British accent?”, Oksana clarified. The woman nodded.

“But that doesn’t make sense”, Eve said. She gnawed her thumb as her mind soaked in with this new revelation. “Why would he start in Paris if he’s originally from the UK?”, Eve uttered mainly to herself.

“What about the tranquilizer? Can you remember if it’s tablet or capsule?”, Oksana asked.

“Uhm… I think he purchased diazepam in liquid form”, she answered.

“Of course he is,” Eve tutted. “It’s easier for the bloodstream to absorb it—,”

“If it is in liquid form,” Both women finished at the same time, making Oksana grin at their synchronization.

“Was he a frequent customer here?”, Eve followed up.

“ _Oui_ , I think so, he made quite an impression on me”, she answered.

“What do you mean?”, Eve asked.

“He’s polite, soft spoken and his voice is refined? I don’t usually get that treatment from the men here in Paris. Maybe that’s why he stood out to me. He’s so nice and sweet, knows how to say ‘please’ and ‘thank you’...I’m sorry, that’s all I can remember”, the pharmacist ended while wringing her hands, noticeably nervous.

“It’s okay”, Eve quickly assured her. “We can work out a lot of details with a police artist!”

“What? Am I a witness?”, the pharmacist asked, surprised.

Oksana mumbled “duh” under her breath which made Eve throw a warning glance at her.

“Yes, I’m sorry but we need to pull you out of here for the suspect’s description”, Eve answered. Before the pharmacist could react, Eve faced the manager. “In the mean time, you should find a replacement for her.”

“What? Why? I can’t find a replacement that fast—“, the manager began.

Eve, again, interrupted him. “If you value her life, you should because once he discovers that she managed to identify him, he will come after her”, Eve stated flatly. Both of them paled at Eve’s words.

When both of them remained silent, Oksana gave them some advice. “I think you should go for a male pharmacist, just to be safe”, she said. Eve wasn’t sure if she was saying this to be helpful or if she was being an asshole.

Eve shook her head at Oksana’s sheepish smile. She took a step back and pulled out her phone. She quickly dialed Carolyn’s number and after a few rings, she answered. “I have a possible eye witness here, Carolyn. Can we fit her into the sketch artist’s schedule today?”, Eve asked.

“I’ll do what I can”, Carolyn replied.

“Okay, can we send a few officers to pick her up? There might be a possibility that he’ll come after the witness once he discovers that she managed to identify him”, Eve replied. She turned to look just in time to snicker at the pharmacist, who was on the verge of collapsing, trying to reach out for Oksana’s arm to steady herself. The assassin hastily sidestepped her hand, making a face as if appalled at the idea.

“I can get some officers there, but why are you giggling?”, Carolyn asked.

“I’m sorry”, Eve cleared her throat as she looked away. “Oksana’s being a little shit.” Oksana squawked in disagreement.

“The question is, when isn’t she?”, Carolyn replied without missing a beat. Eve snorted. “I’ll call the Paris police station so someone can escort her here. Good job, both of you.”

Warmth spread through her chest at Carolyn’s praise. Hanging up, Eve relayed the instructions to the still shocked pharmacist and warned her that she shouldn’t try her luck outside. Eve left her business card to the manager and encouraged him to call MI6 if the suspect came back again. After a few more reminders, she and Oksana walked side by side to leave.

Before they could leave the store, too curious to let it go, Eve asked the young assassin, “How did you know he had the thermos when he came here?” It wasn’t a coincidence that Oksana asked that question.

“I saw the picture of the crime scene. The body was soaked so I figured maybe it rained that day. So I checked the weather forecast the day of the murder and it really rained around mid-day. Since this is the closest pharmacy around the station, he probably bought an umbrella here,” Oksana replied, pointing out the rack where a bunch of umbrellas were displayed.

“He could have taken Aki’s umbrella,” Eve countered but Oksana shook her head.

“Aki didn’t bring an umbrella because it wasn’t even raining when she left their house. She couldn’t have brought an umbrella here because Aki encountered the killer before she even arrived at the station. She wasn’t caught on the CCTV around the train station right?”, Oksana asked. When Eve nodded, Oksana shrugged and continued, “That’s because Aki didn’t manage to reach the station. He had a chance to abduct her from their house and bring her up to this area.”

When Eve became quiet, Oksana raised an eyebrow at her, with a question in her golden eyes. Before she could ask if there’s something wrong, her eyes broadened when Eve hauled her close and kissed Oksana so intensely, her toes almost curled with pleasure.

Oksana tumbled back, dazed with the sudden desire ricocheting in her belly when Eve released her collar. “What’s that for? Not that I’m complaining”, she asked, breathless.

Reaching out for Oksana’s mouth, Eve wiped off the lipstick smudge with a thumb, her eyes dark with desire. “I just find it so hot every time you flaunt how clever you can be”, Eve hummed. “And here I thought I only loved you for your body.”

“You know how I love it every time you refer to me as your arm candy”, Oksana grinned playfully to her girlfriend.

“Sometimes you’re my milk to my Cocoa Puffs”, Eve said firmly. Oksana hooted with uninhibited laughter. She always knew in her gut that being with Eve would be fun but now that she’s actually living it…

Wiping a tear out of her eye, Oksana chuckled at Eve’s pleased look. Oksana became pensive as she let her eyes run across that face that made her feel so… achingly alive. It never ceased to mystify Oksana that this woman, the one who MI6 sent to arrest her, the one who had always seen Oksana as an equal, was in love with her. Maybe Oksana had done something right in her life that even she wasn’t even aware of.

“Is there something on my face?”, Eve asked. With a confused smile, Eve reached up to her cheeks to check them for anything.

“I love you”, Oksana spoke with a small sincere smile in her lips.

Who would have thought that those three simple words had the power enough to rock Eve? The words washed over her like a violent storm swept her, like a punch in a gut that she hadn’t foreseen, like a tidal wave that filled her once vacant heart, like a fire that kindled and stirred her lifeless soul.

Would this emotion dampen through the test of time?

Would she ever get tired of that angelic face?

Of that haunted and lost look?

Of that contagious childlike glee she possessed?

Of that brutal honesty she brazenly wore like her skin?

Of that mind who unapologetically judged and then sentenced people to execution by her own hands?

“I love you”, Eve replied quietly. It was uttered naturally, without any preamble, like how air filled her lungs, like how blood rushed through the veins of her heart, spoken without any second thought. Oksana responded with a grin and Eve’s heart soared at how exquisite Oksana was, standing beside her after whispering back those simple three words.

Two lost souls, one came from death and cruelty, the other came from normalcy and monotony. Complete polar opposites but connected and pulled together by the same magnetic force that they couldn’t seem to shake no matter how hard they tried.

The love they had for each other may have been a shot to the moon but…

Eve closed the distance between them and answered with the same sincere smile as reached for Oksana’s right arm to lace their fingers together. “Let’s go, partner”, Eve whispered. Oksana chuckled at Eve as she reached out to open the door for them.

…being together with this one of a kind complex woman who stirred life inside of Eve was definitely worth it.

***

The couple ended up in a café where Oksana was a frequent visitor. Eve sent a text message to Lance to meet up where they were. Lance quickly agreed since it was almost lunch time. If it weren’t for Oksana, Eve would have gone through the entire investigation without eating but, since Oksana had an appetite of an insatiable toddler, Eve yielded. Eve really didn’t want Oksana to lecture her about not eating enough in the middle of the investigation. Everyone had already seen their “marital spat”, and a food lecture would be doubly embarrassing considering that Oksana was younger than she was.

“Caesar salad? I was kind of hoping for something heavy, carbs,” Eve said, taking a fork and viciously spearing a piece of chicken to eat. Her eyes widened outrageously when the waiter placed a huge plate of pasta in front of Oksana.

“Why am I eating a salad?”, Eve sputtered indignantly as Oksana took a huge forkful of pasta.

“You’re not eating properly”, Oksana managed to cough out the words while chewing through the mouthful of Bolognese.

“And you consider that eating properly?!”, Eve pierced her down with a stony glare but Oksana just rolled her eyes at Eve.

“Don’t be a child, I ordered us a pizza”, Oksana replied. Before Eve had a chance to retort, Lance slid into the seat beside Oksana. Eyeing the woman with bulging cheeks, Lance only raised an eyebrow at her.

“Order what you want, my treat”, the young woman offered before taking another mouthful of pasta. The waiter arrived and placed a pizza in front of them. Lance signaled the waiter and ordered something for himself.

“I managed to check a few residential addresses”, Lance relayed to Eve after the waiter left.

He watched Eve reach for a slice of pizza only to be slapped away by Oksana’s hand. Lance smothered a laugh when Oksana sternly said, “Veggies first,”

Eve scowled, muttering ferociously under her breath as she stabbed a piece of lettuce.

For some reason, these two women fit together like puzzle pieces made only for each other and it made Lance feel a little stupid for hoping that Eve would actually be interested at him.

Hiding his smile from Eve, Lance cleared his throat before speaking. “As far as I can tell, I haven’t nailed his location. We still have a few pages of addresses we can check and cross out. How about you two?”

“We found an eye witness”, Eve replied.

“What? Are you sure it was him?”, Lance asked.

“Yes. He had Aki’s thermos when he dropped by at the pharmacy. Oksana was the one who discovered the witness.” The assassin smiled smugly at Lance which goaded Eve to roll her eyes at Oksana’s pettiness.

Chuckling at Oksana’s behavior, Lance thanked the waiter when he placed another plate of pasta in front of him. “Do we have the CCTV file?”, he asked.

“Yes, and MI6 picked up the pharmacist for police sketch. Hopefully, they’ll have something by the end of the day,” Eve answered while chewing sullenly as she ogled at the pizza in front of her.

“Maybe we could check the residential addresses around the area near that pharmacy for a better result?”, Lance suggested which both women agreed made sense.

They remained mostly silent as they continued to eat. Occasionally, Oksana would say something funny that would make everyone laugh. Eve would then say something about the investigation, her observations, a few theories and ideas that would make Oksana pensive and a little dazed.

“Where did you learn to fight like that?”, Lance asked Oksana out of nowhere. He could see from the corner of his eye how Eve stiffened at the question.

“The organization trained me”, The young woman answered automatically.

“I’d say! Some of your moves are quite familiar, like you’re military trained,” Lance said, taking another bite as he watched Oksana reach for a slice of pizza.

“The old man who trained me is a retired military official”, Oksana sad before taking a big bite. Oksana chewed and gestured for the man to take a slice. “He took me in for like a year, trained me in hand to hand combat, weapon handling and how to withstand extreme interrogation and torture.”

The way Oksana expressed it nonchalantly made Eve clench her jaw. “You were nineteen years old when they took you from the prison right?, Eve interrupted.

Pulling a peperoni off, Oksana popped it in her mouth before answering. “Yes, they offered me a new life, if I worked for them. I figured I might as well take it, since I was about to receive my death sentence that year.”

“What?! You didn’t have a death sentence!”, Eve exclaimed, her food forgotten.

“Really? Well, that was they told me”, Oksana said, nonplussed.

“They duped you”, Lance said. He shook his head, feeling somewhat sorry for the woman.

“Doesn’t matter anyway, I’m with Eve now,” Oksana replied. The fight left Eve’s body as the young woman voiced those words, as if what she had gone through was perfectly fine as long as she ended up with Eve.

Eve released a ragged breath as she reached out for Oksana’s hand on the table, suddenly overwhelmed by the anger simmering in her gut.

The young woman gently tapped her hand before saying, “Finish your salad first before pizza, okay?”

Lance and Eve only chuckled at her. “Fine”, Eve replied.

All of them resumed eating while Oksana kept an eye over Eve. Eve rolled her eyes. Jesus, it’s not like she’s only consuming junk foods. But the way Oksana showed how much she cared for her did wonders for Eve’s heart.

After a few more minutes, all of them had finished eating and made to leave the cafe.

“So are we going back to that pharmacy so we can sweep the residential are around it?”, Oksana asked. Eve nodded but her eyebrows furrowed when Oksana seemed a little pre-occupied.

“Is there something wrong?”, Eve asked but Oksana shook her head silently and smiled.

“Let’s go?”, Oksana said. She reached out for Eve’s left hand and laced their fingers together. A little confused at Oksana’s sudden insistence, Eve let her drag her. Lance followed them as they walked back to the pharmacy.

“How many residential addresses have you already crossed out?”, Eve breathlessly asked. It seemed that Oksana was striding purposefully..

“A page”, Lance replied. He had to jogging so he could keep up. “Are we in a hurry?”, he probed.

“Oksana? Wait, slow down—“, Eve was saying when the assassin abruptly stopped. Eve and Lance collided into each other. Reaching out to steady Eve, Lance was about to say something but Oksana interrupted him.

“No matter what happens, do not leave Eve alone”, Oksana commanded. It came as a surprise to everyone.

“Villanelle—“, Lance began but before he could finish Oksana’s body coiled and, like a bull, she sped off.

Too shocked to even react, Eve tried to reach out for her but Lance shouted, “Someone’s following us! Don’t!” Lance quickly snatched Eve’s hand from being dragged by the woman who took off like a speeding bullet.

“We have to follow her! Oksana might get hurt!”, Eve exclaimed, tugging away her hand from the man’s grip. Recognizing that Eve would fight him on this, Lance jerked her up and pushed her to follow Oksana.

Ahead of them Oksana was sprinting fast—dodging pedestrians left and right. Eve’s heart caught in her throat when Oksana zigzagged through the road traffic and she almost got hit by an oncoming cab. The blasts of horns and profanities erupted around them as the two of them crossed the busy traffic.

“Christ! Sorry!,” Eve shouted an apology as they continued to chase the young woman. Suddenly a man wearing a business suit got knocked down when Oksana barreled towards him.

“FUCK! Your girlfriend’s fast!”, Lance managed to choke out. He heaved, his chest already burning with exhaustion. Ahead of them, Oksana continuously leaped, plowed through the crowd, racing across the crosswalk, springing onto the hoods of the cars who, thank god, managed to stop before hurling herself off of them to run.

Eve was panting desperately but refused to stop. She trusted that Oksana could handle herself but it doesn’t change the fact that she could get hurt or, worse, die. Not even checking the oncoming traffic, Eve crossed the street, running after her girlfriend. Lance, noticeably wheezing, trailed after her.

Beside Eve, Lance suddenly yelled,“Villanelle, look out!” Her scream stuck in her throat as she watched a man shoulder tackle Oksana, sending both of them tumbling to the pavement.

Too late to react, Oksana braced herself when a man charged at her out of nowhere. Due to the force, Oksana could feel herself fly as the huge body of mass plowed through her. Stars exploded and her vision spun when both of them crashed heavily on the pavement.

“OKSANA!”, Eve screamed as she pushed away the crowd that gathered around her girlfriend.

Groaning out loud, Oksana’s ears still ringing with pain as she tried to rolled away but a foot flew and managed to swipe her shoulder. “YOU SLUT! DISGUISING YOURSELF AS A FEMINIST! TRYING TO SMASH THE PARTIARCHY! YOU SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF YOURSELF!”, the man shouted.

Before he could kick her again, Lance yanked the homeless man away from her. Oksana could hear him shouting through the haze of pain in her ribs. She felt herself rolling and then Eve’s worried face came into view.

“Jesus, Oksana are you all right? Oh my god”, Eve exclaimed. She was trembling with worry as she nestled Oksana’s head in her lap.

“Am I in heaven?”, Oksana managed to croak, a little breathless with pain crawling through her body.

“Really? Oksana, now’s not the time okay? We need to check how badly you’re hurt”, Eve replied.

“I’m okay, just...” she winced as she tried to sit up. Her vision remained steady. “...A little banged up, I think. No broken ribs, just bruises and I’m going to be sore tomorrow. Did you see us fly?”

“Yes and the crash looked awful. Are you sure? We need to bring you to a hospital just to be safe”, Eve countered. She instinctively steadied her when Oksana pushed herself up.

“I’m okay, I’m not even dizzy”, Oksana said. Finally gathering her composure, Oksana stood tall as if she wasn’t lying on the sidewalk minutes ago. “Is that the man who took me down?”

Lance was wrestling the homeless man who kept on shouting expletives at them, claiming how Oksana was a fake feminist.

When Eve nodded, Oksana made a horror-stricken face. “Please tell me none of his smell got on me”, she whined.

Sometimes, Eve really questioned Oksana’s priorities. Releasing a sigh of relief, Eve studied Oksana carefully, checking if she was really all right. “Luckily, no. Let me see your face”, she ordered.

Forcing the woman to face her, Eve took her chin and studied her face closely. Not one bruise marred that beautiful face, she raised a finger and instructed. “Follow my finger,” She rolled her eyes at Eve before finally relenting.

“Good, no concussion. Do you feel sick? Dizzy?”, Eve asked.

“No, Eve I’m okay, pro—,” Oksana began.

“Well, I’m not okay! I am not!”, Eve snapped, a sick anger settled in her gut as she breathed in Oksana’s face. She’s all right, she’s fine, and she’s okay. Eve kept telling to herself as she took another breath to steady herself.

“Jesus, Oksana, what if we didn’t follow you? That guy would have pounded you to death,” Eve finally managed to croak out.

“Well, he’s big, it’s like a cannonball took me dooown…,” Oksana puckered her lips and gulped when Eve glared at her coldly.

“You are not allowed to run off on you own again, understand?”, Eve ordered. The assassin nodded meekly. “I’m not kidding this time, Oksana,” She warned.

“Promise! Please don’t get mad at me,” Oksana grumbled.

“I’m not, I’m just worried, okay?” Eve ran a hand through her hair, exhaling. “Why did he attack you anyway?”

Eve strode towards the two men when Lance finally succeeded in handcuffing the guy.

“Bloody bastard smells so fucking awful,” Oksana whined. Lance, meanwhile, had finished handcuffing him. He hauled the guy up, turning him to face all of them for questioning. Eve scooted down to participate in the interrogation.

“Why did you attack her?”, Eve asked. He didn't answer her question. Instead, he cleared his throat and when he was on the verge on spitting on Eve, a boot crashed hard on his face, making him gag on his own saliva.

“I suggest that you don’t disrespect my girlfriend or else you'll crawl out of here with a busted face,” Oksana emphasized her threat by rapping her boot, harder this time, to the man's head.

“ **DYKE**!”, he shouted.

Oksana imitated a buzzer sound before exclaiming, “Wrong answer!” Eve barely winced when a sharp kick snapped his head back.

The man was now moaning out loud when Oksana used her boot to raise his chin, forcing the man to focus on Eve. She repeated her question but the man didn’t answer, trying to glare to Oksana.

A slither of panic flashed through the his eyes when Oksana gave him a pleasant smile and before he knew it, a sharp pain pierced his kidney and a loud crack of bones rang in his ears.

“Oksana, stop playing with him,” Eve winced at his girlish scream.

“She's so strict no?”, Oksana asked mockingly. The man whimpered in pain when Oksana gave him a wicked grin.

“She tends to ignore a lot of rules, so I suggests that you give me a straight answer now while I can still hold her off,” Eve said.

“Look,” he swallowed hard before glancing fearfully at Oksana. “Someone gave me eighty pounds and instructed me that if a woman started running after him, I should stomp her, like real hard. He was spouting about how he was going to a rally about patriarchy and some feminists were threatening to arrest him.”

“And you just accepted it?”, Lance roared.

“Well, yeah. You're a man, right? Unless you’re gay. We gotta stick together to fight for men's rights,” the man replied.

“Can you kick him again? Right in the mouth so he could shut the fuck up?”, Lance asked. Oksana snorted at Lance's request.

“Stop enabling him, Oksana”, Eve replied. The assassin’s eyes widened as if offended by Eve's accusation.

“What will we do to him?”, Lance asked as he threw a disgusted look at the man.

“You could uncuff me,” he offered, trying to smile with a mouth full of blood which made Oksana recoil from where she was standing.

Ignoring him, Eve hoisted herself up. “I'll call for someone to pick him up for his description”, she said.

“He is prepared for us, you won’t get any description from this guy”, Oksana said as she pulled a tissue from her pocket to wipe off her boots.

“He's certainly cocky for following us”, Lance remarked. “Maybe he’s the one who was following us since we started the investigation.”

“You mean the times you were acting a little paranoid?”, Eve asked.

“Yeah,”Lance grunted as he took a tissue when Oksana offered him some. “I hoped it was just my paranoia talking but it turns out I was mistaken.”

“You’re wrong. That was me tailing you two”, Oksana said breezily. Lance and Eve only managed to gape at Oksana’s revelation. “What? This is not news to you. I already admitted it right?”

Eve shrugged as if acknowledging her point but Lance forehead creased with awareness. “Wait… tell me you’re not the one who elbowed me in Paris?”

“I’m not the one who elbowed your back in Paris?”, Oksana repeated. She shrugged while making a sheepish face at him.

Lance face comically looked aghast and Oksana quickly averted her eyes when the man pointed a finger to her.

“You are! You specifically admitted it! Wait! Hey—,” Lance began but Oksana had already turned her back on him, making her way to Eve.

“It’s not like Lance has a mustache,” Eve remarked dryly as Oksana laced their fingers together.

“Well, your taste in lovers before me has always been questionable”, Oksana said simply.

Eve chuckled before retorting, “You mean until now.” The young woman squawked in indignation.

Lance only shook his head as he observed the couple slowly get preoccupied by each other’s presence.

“Heey! Could you uncuff me now?”, the handcuffed assailant piped up to ask. Facing the man who was lying on the pavement, Lance only shrugged at him. “On what grounds are you gonna arrest me?!”, the man bellowed, his mouth spluttering with blood.

“Your scent is enough to score you a cell in Belmarsh. Jesus, I pity the officers who will haul your ass out of here. That smell could breed,” Lance threw one last nauseated look at the man who was still screaming before deciding to follow the bickering couple.

***

**A/N:**

 

**"You're my milk to my Cocoa Puffs"** **Sounds familiar? lol**

 

**A huge thanks to my Beta, **ATLPanther for her patience and her opinions that I value! You rock buddy!❤****

 

**Me to my readers:**

***insert meme* Come on do something…**

**Comments and Kudos are highly appreciated!**

 


	11. CHILDREN?!

It was almost seven in the evening when they arrived at HQ. Eve’s feet hurt and a slight pain was slowly drumming on her temple. They walked all day and tried to check all the addresses from the list Kenny gave them. Most of the residential addresses were empty. She assumed that might be because it was a weekday and most of the pharmacies were already closed.

Ahead of them, Oksana greeted the whole team enthusiastically as if she hadn’t spent the whole day walking. There was no sign that she had been attacked this morning. Worry was still gnawing her gut as she observed her girlfriend for any hint of pain whatsoever.

“We got food for everyone, if anyone’s up for it”, Elena said as soon as they gathered around the conference table. Pushing herself from where she was sitting, Elena took three bottles of water and gingerly pushed them to Eve and Lance while she quickly tossed one to the assassin who deftly caught it without looking.

Twisting the bottle to drink, Oksana gestured for Eve, wordlessly asking if she wanted something. Nodding, Eve took a mouthful of water.

“How can she recover that quickly?”, Lance wondered, twisting open his own bottle.

“Recover? What happened?”, Elena asked them. When Kenny passed her, she took a piece of pizza from his plate and thanked him.

“We had a run in with the killer, he was following us this morning and Oksana noticed him”, Eve replied.

“She chased him all over Paris but he had a contingency plan. He paid a homeless man to attack anyone who will follow him”, Lance explained.

“No,” Eve murmured, interrupting Lance’s testimony. “He knew that it was Oksana who would notice and follow him. The homeless man specifically that he was to attack a woman.”

“But why?”, Lance asked aloud.  Something in Eve’s gut was telling her that something was wrong but she had no idea what it could be. A seed of fear was slowly taking root inside her chest and every fiber in her body was screaming that Oksana was in danger but she had no basis for it.

 “There’s no salad?”, they heard Oksana ask no one in particular which made Lance snicker beside her.

“Oh for the love of god—,” Eve quickly cleared her throat when she heard a slither of whine trickle into her voice. Her stomach growled loudly as if protesting the second possible oncoming leafy feast. When Oksana walked back towards Eve, she threw a dirty look at her girlfriend until she saw a sampling of Chinese takeout.

“Very funny”, Eve complained when the woman finally placed the plate in front of her. Oksana just winked playfully and slid into her own seat. Eating her own food, Oksana was silently stuffing her mouth with Kung Pao chicken.

Mirroring her, Eve took a bite of her own food. Lance slipped out of his seat to fetch his own food. One by one the team was armed with plates full of food and sat at the new conference table.

“Where’s Carolyn?”, Eve spoke as slowly chewed her food.

“At the morgue. She followed up personally on the tire tracks and the footprints,” Elena answered while stabbing a piece of broccoli.

“Can we finish eating first before discussing the case?”, Oksana requested as she shoved a spoonful of rice to her mouth.

“What? Why?”, Brent asked curiously.

“She doesn’t like discussing dead bodies when she’s eating. She claims it’s disgusting”, Eve explained. At Eve’s unperturbed response, Kenny choked on his food but before Elena could pat his back, he coughed wildly and some of the food bits flew out of his mouth. All of them shrank back and after a few beats, laughed at Kenny’s misfortune.

“Really, Villanelle?”, Elena snorted as she swatted away the particles of food that were clinging to her blouse.

“I don’t find that disgusting”, Oksana glared at her laughing girlfriend as if she were a traitor. “What I find disgusting was when he raped Aki after she died.”

Lance blanched when he remembered. “It was really disgusting”, he replied.

“Well, we can discuss how did you two ended up together”, Elena said mischievously. A warning bell rang internally in Eve’s head. Knowing Elena, this conversation would be cringe worthy. “Eve was claiming she stabbed you and you died”, Elena ventured.

“She really did stab me”, Oksana retorted as she shoved a piece of beef to her mouth. “I honestly thought that we’re going to have sex when Eve laid down on my bed after she admitted that she thinks about me all the time, my mouth, my—“, Oksana was really getting into her narrative now. Eve had to cut her off.

“We were not going to have sex that time!” Eve quickly interrupted her girlfriend mid-rant. Her colleagues didn’t have to know what she specifically declared in Paris. Especially not Elena.

Oksana pouted and a frown marred her smooth face. Even though Eve knew that Oksana was just being playful, her possible sadness always tugged painfully at Eve’s heartstrings.

“You made that clear when you stabbed me”, Oksana retorted petulantly.

“Well, you kept on insisting that I couldn’t do it!”, Eve defended herself.

Chuckling, Elena threw an entertained smile to both of them. “If there’s one thing Eve won’t tolerate, its people telling her that she can’t do something”, she quipped.

“And I learned that lesson the hard way”, Oksana said, still pouting as she stabbed at her beef and took a huge bite.

“That’s an unconventional way to put it”, Brent commented.

“Well, they are certainly eccentric couple. It’s not like we can expect something normal from them,” Lance remarked which made Eve scowl at him.

“So what happened after Eve stabbed you? How did you escape? Eve told us that she tried to locate you”, Elena asked curiously, as she chewed.

“I had to wait for Eve to escape from my apartment and for the organization cleanup crew to leave”, Oksana answered.

“I was almost caught by the cleanup crew”, Eve visibly winced when she remembered the old woman from next door. “They eliminated your neighbor.”

“Well, she was being nosy”, Oksana shrugged nonchalantly. “I told her many times that she should mind her own business or else she’d get caught in what was happening to me.”

“You mean you warned her off?”, Eve asked. When the young woman nodded, everyone was surprised with Oksana’s display of empathy.

“It’s was like she actually wanted to see me having threesomes. Once, she was so delighted when she saw me opening my apartment only wearing my lingerie. Can you imagine that? She must have been soooo bored,” the young woman made a face of disgust, horrified at the idea of the old woman prying into her sex life. 

 So much for empathy. Eve shook her head in defeat.

Elena sniggered, “So what happened?”

“I took a taxi and I had him drop me off the hospital”, Oksana said simple. She didn’t want to go into a lot of detail about this incident. Her greatest moment wasn’t exactly that time she had to jump in front of a speeding cab so she could get medical attention. Eve would just wallow in guilt and Oksana didn’t want that. She already had forgiven Eve.

“After a few days, I had to run away from the hospital because it wouldn’t be safe for me to stay there. I snuck into this car and hitched a ride so that I could return to London. After that, a man helped me”, Oksana continued.

“A man? How did he help you?”, Eve probed as she observed Oksana nibble at her chicken.

“I met him at the grocery store, he was nice until I saw his house.” The assassin shivered, as if she remembered something scary. “His house is full of those creepy dolls and his mum is,” She gestured a swirling finger to her head. “Completely nuts.”

“Hey, be nice, the guy helped you”, Eve chastised her.

“Well I was nice, even when he tried to hit on me”, Oksana said, rolling her eyes at Eve.

“What?!”, Eve barked which made everyone flinch in surprise. Once again, Kenny choked on his food but this time Elena was faster. She quickly smacked his back and he managed to swallow his food safely.

“Uhm”, Oksana’s uncertain eyes roamed to everyone’s faces. “Was I supposed to kill him?”

Elena’s sudden laughter erupted around the room which made Eve groan out loud. It’s not like Eve wanted Oksana to kill him, but maybe she could at least punch the guy after hitting on her. Or castrate him or something.

“No”, swallowing her laughter, Elena cleared her throat. “Don’t mind Eve, she’s just jealous. So what happened next?”

“I ran away from him when I had a chance. Then I succeeded in obtaining my backup money from one of my safe deposit boxes around the area. I managed to recuperate after two weeks? Maybe three weeks? Anyway, that’s when I heard that someone was murdering Asian women around Europe and I knew I had to come back to Eve,” Oksana continued explaining. Eve willed her face to remain impassive when Elena glanced at her teasingly after Oksana’s declaration.

“So you heard about the serial killing?”, Lance asked her.

“Yes, I may have lost all of my underground contacts but I still know where to find information as long as you have cash. It was gaining me a lot of unwanted attention from The Twelve”, Oksana replied.

“So it’s one of the reasons why you came back?”, Brent asked. Oksana nodded at him while she chewed pensively. 

Oksana continued, “That shitty killer was ruining my escape plan and I had a gut feeling that MI6 were going to use Eve’s skills to track him down. Knowing his penchant for victims, Eve would have been an indulgence for him. A challenge. I know this for a fact.”

The unspoken reality of Oksana’s nature was acknowledged by the team and everyone remained silent for a few seconds. For that, Eve was thankful no one hurled an insult at the young assassin.

Everyone resumed eating while different discussion circulated around them. Oksana was conversing about martial arts techniques with Lance and Brent. Occasionally, to Eve’s surprise, Kenny would join in with them, as if he were really curious to learn about how to defend oneself from an attack.

It was… nice to see Oksana fitting in with her colleagues and observing the young woman opening up to other people beside her was… baffling. And it somewhat made Eve reconsider Oksana’s psychological state of mind.

“You know,” Eve glanced to Elena when the woman suddenly spoke gently. “You two fit.” Elena remained silent, letting her friend gather her thoughts. “At first, I thought it was only a fascination on your part. Then, after… Bill, I considered it was a thirst for revenge but the pain I saw wasn’t just for his death. It felt like… you hated yourself for having strong feelings for Villanelle.”

Eve look down as she toyed with her food. Suddenly afraid of what Elena might say about her relationship with Oksana.

“I…”, Eve heard Elena clear her throat before she continued, “I just wanted you to know that it’s all right to fall in love with her, Eve. If she makes you happy then I support you and it might be a little unrealistic but I think Bill would also approve of it.” Elena’s heart clenched when she saw how Eve tried to blink away the tears. She reached out and touched Eve’s hand.

“Is she making you happy?”, Elena asked.

Eve gave her a wry laugh. “It’s either she makes me so happy or frustrates me to no end. There’s no in between”, she said, blinking back more tears.

They shared a laugh. “Well, I think that’s lovely. Villanelle loves you with everything she is and your relationship might be a little strange but from what I can see, what you have for each other is real. People rarely find this kind of love and consider yourself lucky that you managed to discover it in this timeline”, Elena said gently.

“What are you two talking about?”, Oksana unexpectedly jumped into the conversation. For a second, Oksana looked down at Elena’s hand on Eves’ which elicited a snort from her friend.

“We were talking about you two having children,” Elena teased. Eve’s eyes widened in panic at Elena’s words and it was a good thing she wasn’t eating anything or else she would have spewed it at the table like Kenny had.  In front of them, Kenny was about to unleash another torrent of his food but all of a sudden, Oksana gestured a finger to Kenny. “CHEW IT!”,  she said with a stern voice which made him pale a little but with the young assassin’s warning, he managed to swallow his food.

Seeing that she prevented another shower of food, Oksana faced her slack jawed girlfriend. “You want children with me?”, she asked.

God, forget Elena’s support. She wanted to squeeze the life out of her friend for planting that seed in her girlfriend’s mind.

“I…”, Eve began. Oksana’s vulnerable expression halted Eve from what she was about to say. “I… do you want to?”, she asked. Oh my god, she groaned internally. Eve wasn’t even ready for another marriage yet here they were, talking about kids. One day, she’d let Elena have it. One day.

Oksana was pensive for a while but her hand was gently rubbing hers. “Maybe? I don’t know…”, she said thoughtfully.

Something in her gut loosened at Oksana’s answer. It’s not like she was completely opposed to the idea, but it was still way too soon to talk about it. “You don’t have to decide now, you know,” throwing an inconspicuous glare to Elena, she continued to say “We just became a couple.”

The smile that etched to Oksana’s face was…strikingly beautiful. “But I think I would like to have children with you…”, she whispered.

The way the young woman whispered it delicately did marvels to Eve’s soul. Her mind dazed with the possibility of creating a family with Oksana but a certain word slowly snapped Eve out of her reverie. “Wait, hold on… Children? Plural?” she asked.

Beside her, Elena made a sound like someone was drowning her.

“What a great deduction, Agent Polastri,” Oksana teased. Eve rolled her eyes at the grinning assassin. Regaining her composure, Eve flick a finger to Oksana’s forehead.

“Stop being a smart ass,” Eve ordered. With a pout, Oksana rubbed where her girlfriend flicked her.

“I’m not an ass, Eve. In fact I got you a dessert,” Oksana replied. Eve stifled a laugh when Oksana wiggled her eyebrows at her, as if she were more thrilled at the prospect of eating dessert rather than eating Eve.

When Eve was about to reach for the plate of chocolate cake, Oksana quickly moved it out of her reach. Eve’s jaw slacked ridiculously when the young woman patted her knee.

“What are you? A perverted old man?”, Eve spluttered, red-faced.

“I’m a pervert but sadly I’m not old. Would you like some role reversal?”, Oksana cooed seductively.  This drew mad laughter from Elena and Eve narrowed her eyes dangerously to her grinning girlfriend.

“Are you going to give that cake to me or do you want me to smack you with it?”, Eve growled. 

“Oooh! Kinky! Is this what they call body shots?”, Oksana continued to tease. She visibly flinched when Eve slapped her shoulder. She continued to shriek when Eve clearly didn’t intend to stop. “Okay! Okay! I give up! Here’s the cake!”

This was the scene that Carolyn saw when she arrived at the conference room. She raised an eyebrow when the couple continued to bicker, not even noticing her presence.

“Do you want something, Carolyn?”, Elena asked her as she stood up. Nodding, Carolyn gestured for a bottle of water.

Carolyn breathed a sigh of relief as soon as she slid into one of the vacant seats beside Lance. She felt her neck creak with exhaustion when Elena placed a bottle of water and a plate of Chinese food in front of her. With finesse, she dug into her stir-fried noodles and when she heard Oksana say something about sex, she said with a straight face, “You two should get a room.”

 Eve was horrified when she saw Carolyn eating casually in front of them. She hadn’t even noticed her boss’s arrival. . “Sorry,” Eve quickly apologized while she elbowed Oksana as a warning.

“It was a joke, Eve. Don’t worry about it”, Carolyn replied, dismissively.

“It was?” Oksana asked as if disappointed that the offer for them to get a room was only a joke.

Smack! “Shut up, Oksana,” Eve hissed as she gave Carolyn an awkward smile while the young assassin pouted at her.

Carolyn just shook her head at them. “I followed up on the result of the sketch from your witness. She didn’t catch his whole face but she managed to describe his upper face clearly.”

“So is it finished?”, Eve asked.

Carolyn shook her head. “They’re still going to polish up his features. It’ll take at least two to three days. It still depends on the witness but the artists assured me that they’ll have it. They just don’t want to pressure the witness too much or it’ll disrupt their progress.”

“Kenny,” Carolyn called her son. “Did you manage to reconstruct his height based on the video?”

“Yes, he’s approximately 6’ to 6’3” tall. I tried to reconstruct his weight but considering his baggy clothes, it wouldn’t be accurate. And I also ran his image up against all the video footage we have for the day of the murder. He was always spotted getting off at the Paris Station”, Kenny explained.

“I cross referenced what Kenny found against Aki’s file and, luckily, she doesn’t have any acquaintances in that height range”, Elena reported.

“That’s good, we’re on the right track,” Eve commented. “What about you, Brent? Any luck?”

“I followed your instructions and talked to the people around the area. You were right about the thermos and the basket of fruits. He was in the area but like what you discovered, half of his face was hidden with a mask. Some of them were adamant that if we showed them a picture, they could recognize him. It seems that he was lurking around the area before the murders”, Brent replied.

“That’s really good, Brent. Great job”, Carolyn praised him.

“Wait, what about the tire tracks? Did they manage to reconstruct what type was it?”, Eve probed.

“There’s a high probability that he used a van. There’s a blind spot area around the woods and they are checking it now as we speak. As for the foot prints, they estimated them to be around a size ten to twelve. There’s a slight chance that he wore shoes bigger than his actual size to throw us off the scent. Also, the grass around the area softened his footprints, so there’s a small chance that they’re mistaken about it”, Carolyn replied.

“So the only thing we can do now is wait for the final sketch, for the forensic team to finish their search and to follow up on the addresses we have on hand,” Eve said, thoughtfully. Eve became silent for a minute as she bit her thumb. “What if we started to approach the residential address around the area?”, she asked.

“You mean we should make more direct contact with the people that live there?”, Lance asked. When Eve nodded, Lance argued. “What if he bolts?”

“He won’t”, Oksana interrupted. “He’s too invested now to run away from this.”

“Are you sure?”, Elena asked for reassurance.

“Yes. He got the attention that he wants. He wasn’t even afraid to follow us this morning”, Oksana replied.

“Wait, he shadowed your team?”, Carolyn clarified it and the three of them nodded. She immediately stopped eating as she glanced around their faces as if asking for further explanation.

“Villanelle, why do you think your team was followed?”, Carolyn asked.

“Eve is a target. He might be studying her routines and pattern of habits or he could be gathering the information that we had on him”, Oksana answered. As Oksana droned on, her Russian accent slowly hardened.

“Maybe we could give him a chance to approach me?”, Eve suggested before she could even think.

“Are you suggesting that we use you as bait?”, Oksana asked. Even as gentle as her voice sounded right then, it couldn’t disguise the threat that trickled into Oksana’s voice.

“Not exactly as bait, but rather we could trap him”, Eve’s stomach churned when Oksana’s eyes pinned her down, her eyes vivid gold.

“He’s not stupid, Eve. He knows I’m with you and any deviation from your routine could ruin everything. He will smell that trap a mile away if he didn’t see me near you and if you think that I would risk your life in any way, you’re completely wrong,” Oksana said flatly. The finality in Oksana’s voice was clear and a part of Eve was frustrated at it. The young assassin may have a point but this is the fastest way to catch the killer.

“I’m with, Villanelle”, Carolyn replied. Eve blinked in surprise when Carolyn agreed with her girlfriend which was surprising considering that the woman was known to be a ruthless tactician. “We don’t know how he will react to this trap, so we might as well wait for the results of the forensics. We won’t risk the safety of our agents for a mission that has a low probability chance of success, this is an unnecessary risk.”

“Fine,” Eve sighed, frustrated. She ran her fingers through her hair. “But I can’t just sit here and do nothing. We can’t just wait for the results. What if he’s stalking another one? What if another body turned up? What if—” she was beginning to work herself into a frenzy.

“Eve,” Oksana began. Eve forcefully clamped her mouth shut at the assassin’s tone of voice. “We can resume checking those addresses, tomorrow. You’re tired and clearly, frustrated. It won’t help anyone if you can’t think straight. We know you’re the only one who can catch this killer but you need to clear your mind first.”

Still frustrated, Eve raised her hands in defeat. She was outnumbered and exhausted. Maybe she could still convince them tomorrow but for now, she conceded. “Okay, fine. You win”, she groused.

Although Oksana didn’t say anything, she was looking at her intensely, her golden eyes unreadable.

“Good, now all of you, go home and take a rest. We will reconvene tomorrow at seven in the morning, sharp”, Carolyn said. Carolyn was still eating as one by one, they pulled out their chairs to leave. The team started to gather around their things.

“Villanelle,” Everyone stopped in their tracks when Carolyn called out for her. “Make sure Eve can get eight hours of downtime”, she ordered. Oksana’s lips twitched with amusement while Eve groaned out loud.

“You heard the boss, Villanelle,” Elena elbowed Oksana playfully. “No staying up all night, having sex.”

“Yeah, Eve. You should get a grip of yourself,” Oksana quipped with an American accent which made Lance and Brent howl with laughter.

“I work with children”, Eve scowled as she yanked her bag from her chair. “Children!”

“Villanelle’s so crazy about you,” Elena commented wistfully to Eve.

“Yes, and it’s embarrassing the way she fusses over me,” Eve quipped sarcastically to Elena which made Oksana balk at her complaints.

Laughing, Elena bid them goodbye as Eve gestured for her girlfriend to follow her. Oksana was surprisingly silent as they walked side by side as they left the building. The wind was cold as it swept past through them when Oksana opened the front door for her.

Her girlfriend was still quiet as Eve tried to discern her sudden change of mood.

“Why do you have to risk your safety on my behalf?”, Oksana asked quietly. When Eve glanced behind her, Oksana was just standing still as the wind picked up and whirled around them. Eve shivered, and she wasn’t sure if it was because of the cold breeze or Oksana’s undecipherable gaze but nonetheless, she tried to hide it by pulling the scarf tighter around her.

“You know we can’t afford to wait”, Eve ventured.

“That’s not enough reason, Eve”, Oksana answered.

Eve furiously took a step towards her. “You did the same thing, Oksana. You came back for me because there’s a serial killer on the loose, you exposed yourself to MI6 and you are risking exposing yourself to The Twelve.”

“May I remind you that I am a trained assassin? So that’s entirely different because I am perfectly capable of defending myself,” Oksana replied. There was a bite in Oksana’s Russian accent which offended Eve.

“I’m not a child, Oksana, and it’s not like I’m going in without backup. Even though you won’t admit it, that would be the fastest way to catch him,” Eve replied fiercely. She turned her back to Oksana, intending to leave her.

“At the expense of your safety? The reason why I came back was to keep you safe but it seems like you insist on making that harder to do. Why are you being so stubborn? Why do you keep doing this?”, Oksana said in exasperation as she walked towards her girlfriend.

Eve whirled around, her eyes blazing with fury and… with fear. “Because I love you!”, she nearly shouted. Oksana stopped dead in her tracks as she took in Eve’s trembling form. “I may not show it very often but I need you as much as you need me. I love you as much as you love me and I would do anything to protect you,” Eve hissed vehemently. This was probably the first time she saw Oksana completely torn as she stood there with a broken look in her face.

Oksana’s life was all about death and it suited her well, like a pair of leather gloves that fit her hands perfectly. In chaos, she thrived but this…

Visibly upset, Oksana ran a hand through her golden locks.

Glancing up, her eyes scanned Eve’s worried face and her heart ached.

She couldn’t lose Eve.

She couldn’t exist without Eve.

They were inevitable.

They were meant for each other.

“Is it possible to have a heart attack at this age?”, Oksana asked. Eve managed a strangled laugh before reaching out to wrap her arms around Oksana. Up until now, it amazed Oksana how Eve’s mere presence eased her aching chest, like a balm that soothed the throbbing ache, like a silk that wrapped and warmed her soul.

“With all the madness that you’ve done, I should be the one asking that,” Eve chuckled as she laid her head on Oksana’s chest. On cue, Oksana’s heart rate picked up which made her smile. Eve took a deep breath of her scent when Oksana wrapped her arms around her.

“We’re in this together, Eve”, Oksana felt the woman nod and her arms tightened around Eve.

_Someone was out to kill you,_ Oksana thought as she ran her fingers through those black locks of hair that always drove her crazy.

_Anyone who wants to hurt you will need to get through my dead body first,_ Oksana swore to herself as she gently laid a kiss to Eve’s head.

***

**A/N:**

**Sorry for the late update gays, I’m swamped at work with deadlines and I’m currently obsessed with Orphan Black.**

**CoPhine makes me soft and Delphine, OMG, I developed a massive crush on her while I’m trying not to drool every time she speaks with that deadly accent in the show.**

***ahem* sorry for that embarrassing thirst for Evelyne. Anyways, my Chapter 12 is finished and currently being edited by my friend ATLPanther. Everybody, say thank you to my buddy!**

**Next chapter would be a domestic VillanEve and *tada* love scene. I think you’ll love the next chapter since a straight friend of mine found their love scene REALLY HOT. Imagine that.**

**Leave some comments because I value your inputs and I would love to hear your opinions!**


	12. Stalker Alert!

Even though they’d spent the entire day walking together, Eve and Oksana still couldn’t get enough of each other. They decided to walk home at the end of their shift. It was a bit cold, but as Eve wrapped her arms around Oksana’s arm, Oksana found herself distracted from the chill in the air. 

“You don’t like cold?” Oksana shook her head ‘no’. “Is that because it’s always cold in Russia?” 

“Partly,” Oksana involuntarily rubbed her hand against Eve’s arm to draw some warmth from her body heat as if, the topic of conversation was making her colder. “My father used to leave me outside to sleep in the cold to discipline me.” 

“What?!” Eve hissed, obviously upset, suddenly halting their pace. Oksana quickly clasped their hands together for reassurance. 

“It’s nothing, Eve. That was a long time ago,” she said.  It was really a long time ago but Oksana couldn’t help her bodily reaction to cold temperatures. It was a good thing she wasn’t on The Twelve’s payroll anymore, as her appointed therapist would have had a field day over that tidbit of information. 

Sighing deeply, Eve reached for Oksana’s hands to lace their fingers together. Eve became noticeably silent as they resumed their leisurely pace. Smiling to herself, Oksana took a quick glance at her girlfriend and noticed how Eve was gnawing her lower lip—a clear indication that she was bothered about something. 

“I’m surprised you’re not interrogating me now,” she chuckled when Eve glared at her. 

“Interrogation is a strong word. I’m merely curious,” Eve replied. She was always interested in learning what made Oksana what she was. 

“Then why aren’t you asking me?”, Oksana’s stomach churned a little at her offer to share her background. It wasn’t that she wanted to hide her past but it worried her that the ugliness of it may taint whatever they had right now. 

“I’m not going to force you to tell me something that you’re not comfortable sharing with me,” Eve replied. Something in her gut loosened at Eve’s words and Oksana could feel the tears sting her eyes at Eve’s gentle words. 

Her whole childhood consisted of talking to teachers, counselors, and therapists. Every single one of them wanted to probe and dissect her head, half scared and half awed at her mental pathology. Although Oksana expected the same burning curiosity from her girlfriend, her heart swelled with tenderness when Eve politely declined Oksana’s offer. 

Eve really does love her. Respects her.

“Thank you,” Oksana said, hoping her voice didn’t betray how emotional she felt in that moment. Overwhelmed with gratitude, Oksana only managed to squeeze her hand. They resumed walking side by side as they talked amongst themselves but as soon as they arrived at the doorstep of Eve’s house, Oksana knew there was something amiss. Her hackles rose in warning and she instinctively held Eve’s arm to stop her from reaching the door. 

“What’s wrong?” Eve’s expression became concerned when Oksana’s features suddenly hardened. She shushed her girlfriend who quivered. Signaling Eve to follow her silently, Oksana ran her gaze across the door as if searching for something.

“What are you looking for?” Eve whispered as she reached for her girlfriends’ back to hold onto Oksana’s clothes, grounding herself with her girlfriends’ steady presence.  

“I inserted a paper between the door and the frame,” Oksana answered in a near whisper.

“So you’d know if someone managed to trespass our place?”, Eve asked. The young woman nodded distractedly. If Eve wasn’t nervous, she would have found the trick clever. 

Oksana’s blood started to boil when she found none. Someone opened the door. The killer invaded Eve’s safe space. Reigning in her fury, Oksana only curled her fist in hatred as she craned her head to concentrate to see if she could hear someone inside their house. Hearing nothing, Oksana jerked her head towards Eve.

“Stay behind me,” Oksana hissed. Once she got Eve’s approval, Oksana reached for the doorknob to open the door. 

It was unnervingly quiet. Her body rigid with tension, Oksana narrowed her eyes at the darkness as she checked her surroundings. She reached for the switch, flipping it on. Light illuminated the whole room. As Oksana scrutinized the room, a red envelope caught her eyes and her whole body relaxed slowly.

Oksana moved towards it and she gingerly crouched as she inspected it. “He left a letter,” she said. 

Beside her, Eve copied her cautious movements. The older woman pulled a handkerchief from her pocket and used it to pick up the red envelope to preserve the possible fingerprints on it. 

“What does it say?”, Oksana asked. Scooting forward, Oksana watched her girlfriend fumble to open the red envelope. As she pulled out the paper, the familiar rage shot through Oksana’s veins like a bullet, almost ripping out the thread of her control.

_ You are mine. _

_ Mine. _

_ This is just a warning. Next time, I will make you mine. _

Eve’s breath whooshed out of her lungs as her mind wrapped around this development. She didn’t manage to disguise her trembling hands quickly enough for Oksana not to notice. Oksana immediately grasped her hands. 

“Don’t worry, I won’t let him hurt you,” Oksana uttered vehemently. Eve’s worries ebbed a little. She could hear the harsh anger permeate Oksana’s Russian twang and saw how Oksana’s clenched her jaw. 

Oksana looked gloriously stunning even with raw fury pulsating around her. 

Startled at her own thoughts, Eve cleared her throat. Jesus Christ, she sounded like a sex starved woman. 

“I’m not really that worried,” Eve assured her. “I think he’s afraid of you.” 

Oksana’s brow furrowed with confusion at Eve’s words. “What do you mean?”, she demanded. 

“He used other people to get you off from his back,” Eve replied. 

“You mean the homeless guy?”, Oksana asked. Eve nodded with a pensive look on her face.

Eve continued, “The kills, the way he stabbed them and the way he raped them. He wasn’t bold enough to engage with them. He lured them in with his weak personality, and then raped them when he was sure that they couldn’t fight him. He even killed them in their weakened state. Even now, the way he escaped from you, it was pure cowardice that he used other people to stop you. He’s secretly afraid of women...of you,” Eve mused. 

“As he should be,” Oksana retorted as pushed herself up to stand up.

The unspoken threat hung in the air as Oksana wandered around the house, checking every nook and cranny for any lingering danger. Eve let her. She stood up to walk towards the table to place the card there. She debated calling Carolyn to give her an update but decided against it. They all needed some downtime and disturbing the others with this new threat wouldn’t push the case forward. This could wait.

Walking towards their fridge, Eve opened it and rummaged around for a water bottle. Pulling it out, she checked to see if it had been tampered with. Sensing that it wasn’t, Eve opened it and took a mouthful. 

“I’ll call Carolyn tomorrow to let them install a double lock,” Oksana informed her as she walked towards Eve. “Once our schedule permits it, I’ll buy a security system for our home, just to be safe.” 

Home. 

Eve reached for Oksana’s cheek, cupping it, she tiptoed and slanted her lips to taste Oksana’s rigid lips. Oksana’s mouth slowly melted through her tender ministrations, as if Eve was offering her comfort. It was funny to even think that Eve was the one who was offering it to her when Oksana was supposed to be the one reassuring her. 

Oksana swallowed hard when Eve released her mouth, as Eve’s eyes ran across her face as if memorizing the planes and curves of it. Lust recoiled inside her belly when Eve ran her thumb gently through her still sensitive lower lip.

“I’m not afraid,” Eve whispered.

Oksana blinked dopily, drunk with Eve’s presence, it took her a few seconds to respond, “I won’t let him hurt you.” Eve placed a hand on Oksana’s nape possessively.  Her thumb rested on the crevice of her collar bone as if soothing growling animal inside of the young assassin’s chest. 

“I know. That’s why I’m not even afraid,” Eve said. It was said with conviction that it made Oksana’s heart swell with…love.

Gathering Eve in her arms, Oksana breathed in her scent as she settled her head on Eve’s neck. “I love you,” the young woman whispered fervently, surprised at the sudden emotions tightening her chest. Oksana wondered when she would get used to this tightening feeling inside her chest. 

“I love you too,” Eve murmured back, gently massaging Oksana’s stiff nape. “Come on, let’s get you some rest,” she said. Eve felt the woman nodding before untangling herself from the older woman. 

Oksana quickly reached for the switch on the living room to turn off the light but she left the light on in the kitchen. Both of them were silent as they walked upstairs, opening the door to their bedroom. Eve gestured for Oksana to sit on their bed. Puzzled, Oksana sat. 

“Take off your clothes,” Eve ordered. A jolt of pleasure tingled in the young woman’s spine which made Oksana grin. 

“So demanding,” Oksana murmured in her Russian twang but relented. As she slowly peeled off her clothes, Eve eyes darkened and suddenly, she reached for the buttons of Oksana’s blouse.

“I knew it,” Eve said. Oksana’s brows furrowed at Eve’s distraught voice after sliding off the blouse from her shoulders, exposing her upper chest. 

“What?” she asked before following Eve’s eyes and startled at the bruises that were blooming around her ribcage. Oksana didn’t feel anything but as she looked down to inspect it, her body looked ugly. 

_ Great, _ the young assassin sighed in disappointment. Talk about ruining their moment with these stupid bruises. _ Another reason to beat the crap out of that stupid serial killer _ , she thought to herself annoyed.

But to Oksana’s surprise, Eve reached for her ribcage and ran her fingertips on it as gently as she could, which made the young woman hiss. 

“Sorry,” the older woman quickly apologized as she drew her hand away but Oksana pulled it back, her golden eyes smoldering with heat. 

“No, it doesn’t hurt,” Oksana assured her huskily. Eve eyes searched Oksana’s for any indication of pain and after a few seconds, Eve spread her palm across the young woman’s ribcage. 

“You aren’t hiding it deliberately,” Eve muttered as she gently inspected the bruises. “You don’t feel anything at all?” 

“It’s not painful in the slightest,” Oksana gently swore to her. If Eve were to ask her, what she was feeling it was definitely not pain. She was getting turned on by how those hands softly hovered on her stomach. She considered saying this, but, seeing how Eve was troubled at her contusions, the young woman only bit her lip and remained silent.

Eve’s stomach lurched when she saw how massive Oksana’s bruises were and if the young woman wasn’t “trained” for this, she wouldn’t even have the ability to walk, hell, she wouldn’t have the energy to stand up straight.

“Let’s get you in the shower,” Eve said. Pulling the young woman up, Eve guided Oksana towards their bathroom. 

Her stomach recoiled as she saw how those bruises spread around her back as the young woman walked towards the shower. Eve examined Oksana closely as the young woman slowly stripped away her slacks, underwear and finally, Eve gulped hard as Oksana reached for the clasp of her bra to deftly remove it. 

Jesus, Eve unconsciously bit her lower lip as she predatorily followed that lithe form as Oksana turned on the shower. Eve’s body buzzed with hunger when Oksana’s body leisurely got soaked by water, her throat dried when Oksana raised her arm, causing her toned biceps and stomach to ripple under the waves of water. 

“Aren’t you going to join me?” Oksana’s husky Russian accent snapped Eve’s attention. She debated for a few seconds but eventually, the hunger in her gut won out. She could feel Oksana’s heated gaze as she slowly shed off her clothes. 

Those strong arms reached for Eve as soon as she bowed her head under the shower water, cradling her skinny frame inside those lean arms. 

“Don’t worry about it too much,” Oksana whispered. Eve raised her eyes when Oksana spoke. “I’ve had worse.” The cocksure grin she displayed was supposed to comfort the older woman but, instead, the older woman’s jaw clenched. She grasped Oksana’s jaw, and Oksana was surprised to see Eve’s brown eyes flared in fury. 

“You don’t deserve any of it,” Eve bitterly spat. Oksana wanted to remind Eve of all the things that she did, all those people that she killed, the blood that she carried but…

Oksana’s eyes ran across Eve’s face as the water cascaded around them. Oksana knew that she’d always been selfish and self-centered. If there is one thing that Oksana wouldn’t tolerate, being denied what she wanted. She usually didn’t care if she had to resort to violence or seduction, as long as she gets what she desired. With Eve she used both methods, and ended up losing her—even if it was just for a few months, the sting of rejection was still there, echoing in the hollowness of her chest. Baffled, Oksana was torn between making Eve hers and wanting the woman choose her. Then she realized that owning her wasn’t enough. Oksana wanted Eve to love her. 

To sleep and wake up beside the older woman every day. 

To cherish her and protect her. 

So Oksana waited, she became patient.  Slowly, she understood that love should not be forced. 

Even if Oksana’s way of showing her feelings for the older woman was fucked up, she meant well. Oksana protected her the only way she knew how, and from a vantage point in which Eve couldn’t reject her again. In a way, Oksana was also protecting herself. In reality, she also had to admit that she didn’t know how to handle her growing feelings for the older woman. 

Oksana had no way of knowing how this worked because all her life, no one showed the young woman what love was. She grew up unloved, so how would she know what unconditional love was if she’d never experienced it in the first place.

_ Mine _ . 

Oksana’s inner beast growled within her as she ran her gaze once again on that face but this time, it wasn’t about possessing Eve. Eve had always been a steady pillar, a strong and independent woman who wouldn’t tolerate bullshit from anyone. Knowing her girlfriend, she wouldn’t appreciate Oksana branding Eve as hers. Eve was her own woman, but Oksana knew that her heart, her love, her soul, it was Oksana’s. 

All of it was hers. Only for Oksana Astankova.

“You don’t deserve any of this,” Oksana whispered back and before she could stop herself, she said, “I don’t deserve you.” 

“That’s not true,” Eve replied. Oksana squeezed her eyes shut in surprise, trying to hide the sudden misery swirling in her eyes but Eve wasn’t having any of it.

“Don’t shut your eyes, Oksana. Look at me,” Eve said. The pleading in Eve’s voice prompted her to open her eyes and her eyes burned with tears when she saw Eve’s eyes radiate sincerity. 

“I don’t care what you deserve or what I deserve. We are inevitable because you and I belong to each other,” Eve said, her hand tightened around her nape and her thumb dug into her collarbone. “I love you.”

With those words, the beast inside Oksana’s chest reared up. She ducked her head to kiss Eve and at the first contact of their lips, both women moaned in pleasure. 

_ Mine.  _

_ Mine.  _

_ Mine.  _

Her inner animal roared as Oksana ran her teeth across Eve’s neck, occasionally nipping, leaving a trail of red marks on that luscious neck. Oksana licked, bit, kissed—savaged it and it sent Eve’s pulse into overdrive.

As Oksana gripped her thighs, Eve circled her legs around the young woman’s waist and arched upwards. Her back slapped at the tiles of the bathroom as they both stumbled for support. Eve was offering her chest for Oksana to feast. When Oksana’s mouth clamped around her nipple, Eve moaned with so much carnality it made Oksana’s blood hum in thick desire.

“ _ Мой _ ,” Unaware, Oksana whispered in the language of her youth. The language that she swore she wouldn’t use as long as she can but the primitive lust that was surging inside her veins was making her lose her inhibitions. Her golden-green eyes were wild and fierce as she greedily watched Eve succumbed under her ministrations. 

Gasping under Oksana’s skilled touch, Eve whimpered. The desire ricocheting in her belly was demanding more and she pulled down Oksana’s mouth, crushing it into hers. Eve heard the woman slip into her old language, Russian, and the remaining thread of Eve’s control snapped. 

“Take me,” Eve plead, whimpering under the feral force of Oksana’s kisses. “Take me now, please.” 

Oksana released a primal moan before she crashed her mouth to Eve’s lips, then raked her teeth back to Eve’s jaw, slowly easing down Eve’s throat, over her breast, Oksana’s hands kneading, rolling those nipples on her fingers.

Eve’s sharp cry of pleasure rocked them both when Oksana hungrily licked and bit those sensitive buds. “Oksana…” She groaned shamelessly when Oksana’s hot mouth clamped back into her hot flesh. 

“ _ Мой _ ”, The Russian word was uttered again and it made Eve gasp with need. 

“More,” Eve demanded and she rocked her slick hips forward. She wanted Oksana’s mouth on hers, her hot skin, the feel of it, the taste of it. 

When Oksana slipped those long skilled fingers inside her, Eve’s head fell back as pleasure carved her stomach. She released a long fiery moan as Oksana mercilessly slid through her wet flesh, possessing her, almost bruising her as she moved, pumping her slick slit until Eve was mad for more.

It didn’t take Eve long enough to reach her climax. It felt like the universe exploded beneath her lashes as her hot release gushed through her. Eve’s body was throbbing with carnality of her desire, like a flood that swarmed her whole being. Eve desperately clung for Oksana’s shoulder, trying to find some anchor to hold herself, overwhelmed with the pleasure rocketing inside her body.

The ringing in her ears finally stopped and Eve laid her forehead on the young woman’s forehead, trying to breathe in as much as possible. “God,” Eve panted and gave the woman a tired smile but her heart skipped a beat when Oksana whispered, “More.”

Oksana thought that when Eve finally had her release, the roaring inside her chest would finally surrender. Instead the small whimpers of pleasure inflamed her more, her already stirred blood pushed into fervor of ravenousness. “I want more,  _ moй, _ ” she stated. 

Oksana might be trying to hide her frenzied thoughts from her but Eve knew the young woman well. The fear for her safety was wrecking the young assassin's usual calm façade, pushing Oksana's primitive nature to defend and to possess Eve. 

It was against Eve's disposition to let other people smother her but the possessiveness coming from the young woman didn’t feel like ownership, but, rather, the need to protect. 

It wasn’t stifling or suffocating but a reassurance that Oksana is there to keep her safe.

Мой.

Eve's Russian might be limited but she knew what that meant. Villanelle was claiming her heart and her soul.

Sensing Oksana’s need for her, Eve couldn’t stop her body from shuddering with lust. God, the woman wanted her like air, like she couldn’t live—exist without her and Eve was more than willing to give it to Oksana. Everything—anything. 

“Take me,” Eve offered and Oksana took it.

Oksana couldn’t stop.

Wouldn’t stop. 

***

After making sure that Eve was finally sleeping, Oksana slid off their bed, treading softly, trying not to make any noise as she strode naked towards their dresser.

She trusted Eve’s deduction about the killer being a coward but whoever deduced it, even if it was her girlfriend, Oksana wouldn’t risk Eve’s safety. There’s nothing wrong with making sure that Eve was safe. 

Eve’s safety was paramount.. 

Eve was her anchor to humanity, the only one who was holding her sanity intact in this chaotic world in which they lived. 

Oksana silently reached to open their closet. She silently flipped their coats, jackets, blouses and blazers that were neatly hanging inside. 

A small smile unconsciously erupted to Oksana’s lips when she finally found what she was looking for. Reaching out for one of her coats, she slipped a hand inside the hidden pocket and rummaged. When she finally felt the hilt of a cold metal, Oksana could swear, her bloodlust hummed in her veins. 

Pulling out her one of her favorite knives from its hiding place, she unsheathed it and the blade gleamed in the moonlight. Unconsciously, she purred as she inspected the blade, her gaze running at the sharpness of it. 

Satisfied, Oksana sheathed it back into its leather cover. Throwing a discreet glance to the unmoving woman in their bed, the young woman glided out of their room, slowly descending the stairs. She was still naked as she walked to the front door and unlocked it. 

This was an open invitation for further intrusion, but anyone who dared try would have to get through Oksana first. 

Oksana grinned wickedly as she strode back upstairs to see if anyone would take her bait. Anyone would suffice, as long as they can satisfy her urge for blood but mostly, she wished that the serial killer would take a chance. Oh, how Oksana would love to see the killer’s face once he realized that she was anticipating him.

She’d even let the killer take a glimpse of her naked body before she ended him, Oksana playfully contemplated to herself. 

Leaning against the doorway of their bedroom, Oksana’s crossed her arms across her naked chest as her eyes softened when she took a fleeting look at her sleeping girlfriend. 

Oksana was trained to withstand sleepless nights. She could stay awake for three to four days without any proper sleep but if her body really required it, power naps can get her through the day so guarding Eve at night wouldn’t be a big problem. Oksana had done it before and she would do it again to ensure Eve’s safety. 

Preparing herself for a long night, Oksana strode towards their dresser and placed the open folders on it. Inaudibly, Oksana grabbed a chair and bought it to the doorway of their bedroom. With the ease of a jaguar, the young woman sat and crossed her legs comfortably as she placed her knife on her naked lap. She opened the folders to study the files about their case and waited. 

***

Eve was dreaming. Suddenly, she felt herself falling and her body automatically twitched as if bracing herself for the painful impact. She gasped as she reached for a body beside her as she slowly woke up. Finding none, disoriented from sleep, Eve raised her head to search for her girlfriend. 

She squinted at the brightness of their room as she tried to adjust her eyes. “Oksana?”, She grumbled. 

No one answered. 

Still sleepy, Eve sluggishly rolled off their bed. Stumbling, she reached for the robe on the chair in front of their vanity dresser. “Oksana?”, she repeated but this time, with a louder voice. 

Worry slammed Eve’s chest when the younger woman didn’t answer. Barefooted, hair in shambles, Eve shuffled out of their bedroom in search for her girlfriend but once she was halfway down the stairs, she heard the distinct sound of knocking and voices beneath the stairs. 

“Hey, good morning,” the pain in her chest slowly dissipated when Oksana greeted her with a soft smile. Jesus, talk about paranoid. 

“What’s wrong?”,  sensing her anxiety, Oksana reached for her shoulder, caressing her for comfort. 

“You left me,” Eve said. It wasn’t an accusation but it sounded like she was whining? Oksana didn’t have enough time to stop herself from snorting which made Eve pout sullenly. 

_ Cute _ , she thought as Oksana grinned at her girlfriend.

“Baby, I really had to. We can’t really afford to stay in bed all morning,” Oksana winked at her which made Eve roll her eyes at the young woman’s implication. “Besides, I had to call our boss for a lock replacement and additional lock.” 

“I’m a bit disappointed that you didn’t call me, Eve,” Carolyn said when Eve finally faced her boss. 

“I’m sorry, at that time, it felt like it wouldn’t help anyone even if I relayed it to our team,” She sheepishly explained to her boss. 

“At least, I could have sent someone to replace your locks. You could have rested well,” Carolyn reasoned.  

“He’s a coward, Carolyn. He’s such a chicken wuss to come back here and face Oksana,” Eve grunted as she reached to smooth her hair, trying to tame it. 

_ Well, technically, it’s true _ . To the young assassin’s disappointment, no one tried to trespass their home. Oksana pouted to herself as she watched her girlfriend helplessly trying to tame her wild hair. Smothering a smile, the young woman took a flailing hand of Eve. “Let it be,” Oksana murmured. 

A fleeting memory of their first meeting flashed in Eve’s mind which made her pause. As she held Oksana’s gentle gaze, she knew the younger woman knows what she was thinking. 

Carolyn cleared her throat to gain their attention. “Anyway, I’ll take this now for the forensics and follow up the rest of our pending results. Be sure to arrive at headquarters in an hour.” 

“Do you want to bring coffee with you?” Eve offered before releasing Oksana’s grip on her. 

“No, thank you,” Eve noticed how Carolyn’s eyes narrowed something on her face.

“What’s wrong?” Confusion knotted Eve’s face instead of answering her, Carolyn regarded Oksana and raised an eyebrow at her. 

“Didn’t I tell you that there was to be no staying up all night having sex?”, Carolyn asked.  Eve’s face flushed with embarrassment at Carolyn’s reprimanding words. Eve avidly tried to hide her face when she noticed the men replacing their locks glance curiously at them while trying to smother their smiles. 

“We didn’t, I swear!”, Oksana squeaked in panic. Carolyn only sighed at them as she pulled her coat tighter around her. 

“I’m off,” Their boss started to walk away from them before adding behind her back, “In an hour, don’t be late.”

“I wonder how she found out,” Eve wondered aloud but to her horror, Carolyn heard her and tossed an answer for everyone to hear.

“Your neck is full of bite marks,” their boss managed to answer before she vanished from their sight. It took Eve thirty seconds before the meaning of Carolyn’s words sunk to her consciousness but the young woman was already slinking away from her reach with a sheepish smile etched on her face.

“Oksana Astankova! You asshole!” 

***

**A/N:**

**I want to say thank you to my favorite beta[ATLPanther](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ATLPanther)! I'm so busy we haven't talked for a week now! I'm back with my band and we're practicing almost every day after my work so, I haven't got a time to write nor do anything except read some books before crashing to sleep.**

**I miss talking to you buddy!**

**Anyways, this fic is almost finished and from here on it would be a wild ride for you guys!**

**Can you imagine if Eve died in this fic because of this killer? Oksana would lose her remaining humanity and start a fucking carnage.**

**Don’t worry, no one would die in this fic. Just had to lay that out. To be honest, I can’t imagine Oksana existing without Eve.**

**Anyways, shower me with comments and tell me what you think!**

 


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